Yep. Thanks Lar.

thank you for the voice in the wilderness.
this kind of thing sure brings out the "i'm not racist but" in a lot of liberals.
and don't let go, larry. i'm sick of nice.

"By daring to pose Beck's artistry against Bey's, Ye incensed some rockist types, who ran to read the ingredients, counting how many songwriters and how many instruments are on each's album. This logic makes sense to the industry that prays to white dudes with guitars, but maybe not to the one that created Motown." Amen.

There go Larry again, always brining the truth. *applause emoji*

This would make more sense if the corporate twinkle-pony, Beyonce's album weren't shite. But it is. D'Angelo should've won, hands down. You know nothing, Mr. Mizell.

Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary Kayne is easily my favorite. He was a good sport about the jokes to sit down during the Wayne's World skit.

tear the whole crumbling edifice down. the grammy for "album of the year" means less than an AVN award.

@5 the D'Angelo album wasn't released in time to qualify for last year's grummys, it will be eligible for the 2016 whatchamacallem's

So...you hate Rock music.

And you love vapid over-produced music.

Got it.

I'm entirely unconvinced Kanye has black Americans in mind, rather than himself, when he raises his voice.

But duh, fuck the Grammys.

Either way, great writing from Mr. Mizell Jr.

Disclaimer - I have not heard either Beck or Beyoncé's album, so I have no opinion on the artistry and/or award-worthiness of either. But I do think that Kanye should keep his trap shut because if Beyoncé really felt as though she were being shafted on these various awards shows, I don't think she would have any issue with saying so HERSELF. She doesn't need any puffed-up blowhard 'white-knighting' (if you'll forgive the phrase) on her behalf. Dude - just sit down and shut the eff up. You're making your girl look bad.

^^^ what he said

Assuming that your definitions of "black excellence" mirror those contained in this article, my question is, how does Kanye (or the presumptions regarding Kanye's intentions, or a definition of "black excellence" that is wholly technical, accompanied by an insistence that pretty much anything in a punk, postpunk, noise, avant-garde, etc., constitutes a lazy mediocrity available primarily to whites) account for artists like Bad Brains, Death, Fishbone, Dalek, or even Thee Satisfaction or Shabazz Palaces, artists mining a similar vein in which the technical components of music and production are less important than the ways in which content leads to form, or in which sound is used to subvert expectations of the agreed-upon components of music?

It seems like we're starting to define "privilege" in ever more confounding terms.

I feel like this piece should have either in some way addressed the artistic merits of Beck's versus Beyonce's albums or not have existed at all since the grammys are clearly an artificial construct of the white hegemony that rewards not talent, but whiteness alone.

Cuz right now it just sounds like a Beyonce fan who's a sore loser spouting off.

Grammys Kanye is best Kanye though. That is true.

Snipers, bombs, war. The south-end, you mean?

What I love about Grammys Kanye is that he is one of the few people in America that still believes that the Grammys are important. It's kind of beautiful.

Imma gonna let you finish, but Kanye's Grammy performance was so ludicrously autotuned even Lil Wayne would think it was over the top.

The idea that black excellence was stopped at the one yard line is ludicrous. A black man intercepted that pass, in an effing spectacularly excellent way. That was pure black excellence. Moronic statement.

Screw the Grammys, but that's also not my issue with Kanye's behavior or this article. Weather an album contains songs that were written and produced by one person or many people shouldn't necessarily make any difference with respect to whether it wins a Grammy for best album. But it may have some relevance to a controversy where someone calls into question the artistic merit of one person versus another. Kanye's big mistake was taking on Taylor Swift and Beck instead of taking aim at the Grammys directly, not to mention speaking up for someone who everyone believes is entirely capable of speaking up for herself.

12 and 22 say things not said enough.
Beyoncé has grown up big and strong and she can fight her own battles. Kanye may be speaking truth, maybe, but he's inserting himself where he isn't needed and targeting the wrong issue

Yo Dawg, what's with all the whack slang? You been slipping on applyin' 'cause you been drinking too much Heem with Bey and Ye (I can't even figure out who Hov is, and Yeezus? Seriously? You've got to insult Christianity and make multiple catchy terms just to describe one man?), am I right?

On a serious note, please can the Ebonics. It was insulting to African Americans back in the 1990s, now it just insults you as a writer.

Beyoncé had a better album than Beck, hands down. The Grammys suck and are full of white privilege. Kanye is a musical genius and a lot he says is great...BUT...

It's stupid to attack Beck for not being an artists. I'm not a Beck fan, but give the man credit where credit is due, dudes an artist.

Why is this important? Beyonce doesn't make art. Beck's made artful albums for decades. There was no contest here other than the basic race card issue. At least the Beyonce vs Taylor Swift thing had some traction since you're at least on roughly the same level of bullshit music for you to listen to at future "the 2010s!!!!" club parties.

These are people who all peaked years ago and are rolllling in money . Lift up some new black art, who fucking cares about these people.

@26 7/11 & drunk in love are art. Just as much as beck album is.

No they aren't.

>Cigars on ice, cigars on ice
Feeling like an animal with these cameras all in my grill
Flashing lights, flashing lights
You got me faded, faded, faded
Baby, I want you, na na
Can't keep your eyes off my fatty
Daddy, I want you, na na
Drunk in love, I want you

give me a fucking break

@28 yes they are.

I had a little chat with Beck standing in line at a cheap take out grilled fish place in Metro LA once maybe 15 years ago. He was very nice, unaffected and interesting. As a huge rock star at the time he worked and lived in Eagle Rock, a working class multi-ethnic neighborhood - the local analog might be White Center. Didn't drive a car and was quite connected to that place. It's very likely he's not the binary pole you're implying. To my ear Beyonce's music is strong-voiced totally uninteresting overproduced poppy garbage (and I love the above mentioned Motown, which is a poor comparison).

First of all, can't we all agree that the Grammy's have snubbed many better artists on many occasions regardless of race, gender, etc. Let's not pretend that the Grammy's have ever been credible or the authority on "best album of the year".

This article is written with the certainty that Beyonce didn't win because she's black. Do we even know that? In 2004, did Outkast win over Justin Timberlake because the judges were racist towards white people? In 99, Lauren Hill beat Shania Twain, but the awards don't recognize black artistry?

I agree wholeheartedly that Kanye makes for an entertaining wildcard of a celebrity, but it's bizarre that you would want to connect his childish behavior out-of-the-studio with black excellence. He walks up on the stage at awards shows to declare who should've won. Are you fucking kidding me? The first time he was drunk. This is your civil rights leader?

"Kanye has noted that out of the 21 Grammy awards he's received, not one of them has been against a white artist. But the last time he was nominated for, and didn't get, album of the year, he lost it to a Herbie Hancock album" What is the relevance of this statement? BTW: Kanye and Alicia Keys lost to Ray Charles, but that's irrelevant also.

"Anyway, I been slipping on applying to join the Recording Academy—'cause if I care so much about it, I should go ahead and join so my vote can be among those counted. I should get more info at grammypro.com." Gee, you think? How about you actually get involved and fucking vote and replace the old white guitar guys! It's not wise or righteous to run up on stages and yell into the mic.

Beyonce probably did have the better album, but Kanye is a prick. This article is fucking ridiculous.

Larry Mizell Jr.: Are you just click-baiting us for SLOG views? Imma grab the mic at one of your shitty rap performances and say Boom Bap Project or someone is better. But then I'll let you finish.

Beyonce and Kanye count as "black excellence" now?

The American Pop Culture Generation Committee has fallen a long way since the days they invented Big Momma Thorton.

>Imma grab the mic at one of your shitty rap performances and say Boom Bap Project or someone is better. But then I'll let you finish.

oh shit I haven't pulled out the BBP in years!

beck sucks, always has.

born on third base, scientology, hipster irony, cultural appropriation, novelty songs, the whole works. fuck beck.

Beyonce is an artist in the same way the people at Subway who make my sandwich are artists.

Excellence and the Grammys have nothing to do with one another. You have to be bland, ancient, washed up, commercially lucrative and/or ridiculous to even be admitted. It has nothing to do with excellence, black, white, musical or otherwise.

Kanye is a pretentious ass. Why people keep giving him adulation is beyond me.

@9 Rock music stopped being relevant years ago. It pains me to say it, but it's true.

@34 hipster irony, cultural appropriation, novelty songs

buzzphrases from your favorite SJW tumblrs do not an argument make

Kanye is a nobody and an asshole.