January 12 2022
La Sirene
Welcome to Glamour Magick Beauty. If you follow Pop Culture and Rap, you might be aware that XXL revealed their nominees on Monday for their award show being held on January 24th, 2022. The list was full of familiar faces, but thankfully many of them were women. No matter how one may feel about the state of Rap and Hip-Hop, women are winning right now and Female Rap has become a full fledged sub-genre with a roster of mainstream and decorated artists. While I’m glad to see people being recognized for their work, I wanted to have a bigger conversation about award shows altogether. It is widely known that award shows do not carry the same, should I dare say, “clout” they used to. Not only is their popularity dying but their authority over the music industry has all but completely disintegrated as well. While viewership is down mainly because cable is becoming a thing of the past, viewers have also had it with Grammy snubs and MTV and BET award show antics. That being said, I’m here to read and drag these shows a little bit but not in an effort to be mean spirited. Everything I say comes from a place of wanting to see these shows either improve, or bow out gracefully.
XXL Awards
Since XXL inspired this article I will start with them. What credibility in the music industry does XXL really have? Yes I know music journalism and Hip-Hop culture is their business and brand but that doesn’t necessarily make them music experts either. However one could argue they’re just a group of people with opinions like all the rest. Either way, I believe the XXL awards is great for lesser known artists to get exposure and recognition but for rap juggernauts like Nicki, Kanye and Drake….an XXL award isn’t going to make or break them. This is a Barb Stan site so vote Nicki for People’s Champ!
Grammy’s/ The New “EBT” Awards
Between all the negative backlash from artists and fans alike, to the indefinite postponing of their 2022 show it’s looking real dead in the water for the Scammy’s Grammy’s. Their credibility has been on a declining slope for a while and it seems most people are just as bored and over it as I am. The irony is how many artists shunned and abandoned many Black award shows in favor of the Grammy’s and now they are just as rinky dink as the BET and Soul Train awards were deemed to be. There was a time when the BET awards were dubbed the, “EBT” awards and now that slur seems more fitting for this swanky soiree. Chalk it up to Ancestor karma for all the Black artists they snubbed and cheated over the past several decades.
BET
While the BET awards have a reputation for technical malfunctions and hood rich shenanigans, it still actually could pull viewership and put on an entertaining show whether Beyaki and Jigga Man show up or not (they’ve been m.i.a for years). Rappers are the most entertaining group of musicians by far so when you merge several of them with a host of Black comedians among other talent, you’re bound to have a show worth watching. It’s also less likely that you’ll end up groaning about your fave artist being snubbed. BET has certainly done some questionable things over the years so they are far from innocent but they haven’t committed crimes like their white counterparts.
MTV VMAs
Notorious for publicity stunts and antics, First in Fuckery are the VMAs. I enjoy the VMAs as much as anyone else and they definitely have several iconic shows under their belt. Where Rap and Pop Culture merge, the VMAs is packed with entertainment for most audiences. The “spicy white” or should I say, half sister to the BET awards, the VMAs are known more for what will happen rather than who will win, what. It’s practically a show for pure entertainment and for that, I predict it’ll remain popular as long as MTV Network makes it accessible to viewers via streaming service.
Billboard & AMA’s
Due to Billboard having actual authority and credibility in music, I believe they are an award show that should always be around. As far as popularity I’m going to lump them in with the AMA’s because I don’t always watch either of them. Pop Culture promotes MTV, BET and the Grammy’s the hardest from my experience. In fact, I rarely watch the AMA’s or Billboard unless there’s going to be an exceptional talent performing. They are quite the unproblematic pair but that makes them less entertaining to watch. However, I’ll take Billboard, BET and MTV any day over anything else listed here.
Do y’all care about or watch these any of these award shows? Let’s talk in the comments! Until next time tap into the Glamour Magick Beauty podcast.
