Black musical dominance persists while elite Grammys keep going to non-Black artists

Evidence

The dominance Gordy carved out, for instance, is what an artist like Tyler, the Creator wished for himself when he took a moment to ruminate after winning a Grammy in one of the rap categories in 2020. “I’m just like, why can’t we be in pop?” he said backstage. “Half of me feels like the rap nomination was just a backhanded compliment.” The following year, Beyoncé became the woman with the most Grammys (twenty-eight); the majority of her wins, however, were in a rap or R&B category, and only one was for Song, Record, or Album of the Year. Maybe this would matter less if rap and R&B were marginal elements of the American sound. Instead, they’re the music those elite pop Grammys wind up honoring. It’s just that, of late, the recipients of that industrial hardware have tended to be other than Black. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1133

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s broader reframing thesis: Black culture foundational yet simultaneously segregated/appropriated — the deviation-vs-design distinction applied to the music industry.