So last night the Grammys went down and it was actually a very entertaining show! There were some pretty great performances and even some touching moments. It’s late and I’m tired so I won’t go too in depth, but here are a few thoughts.
1) How INCREDIBLE was Kanye West’s performance of an updated “Hey Mama”? Of course his performance of Stronger with Daft Punk was stellar as well, but his vulnerable and touching tribute to his mom was a tear jerker. Nobody can deny that this man is an artist and in musical genre where so much is based on fantasy (focusing on fame and fortune) it is always refreshing to see him tap into something real. It is that authenticity that makes him one of the top artists in the game. Also, props to him for telling the orchestra to stop the music (click here to watch) when he was giving remarks about his mother…show a little compassion people!
Stronger/Hey Mama
2) Amy Winehouse pulled a very solid and exceptional performance of “You Know I’m No Good” and “Rehab”…but didn’t she seem to relish in her drug-addict status? I understand that Rehab is one of her biggest hits, but damn does she have any shame? Anyway, her dancing was pretty entertaining and she seemed more lucid than she has in a long time.
3) Wasn’t it cool to see Tina Turner kind of keeping up with Beyonce? She is in her 50s and she still got it!
4) How does Alicia Keys manage to bring the house down every time she performs “No One”? John Mayer was a nice touch too, but I would’ve liked to see them break into “Lesson Learned”.
5) Barack Obama won a Grammy for the audio version of his book “The Audacity of Hope” which gives him 6 wins this weekend! Washington, Nebraska, Maine, Louisiana, the Virgin Islands, and the Grammys. Go Obama!
6) Nas wore a shirt with the word N1gger on it…f*&king disgrace. I don’t give a damn how he tries to rationalize it, it’s just wrong. Seriously, he couldn’t find anything more productive to do with his time?
7) Who knew Rihanna and The Time would make a hot combo? They both rocked it out.
Click here to watch Fergie & John Legend Perform Finally
Click here to watch Alicia Keys’ Frank Sinatra duet
What do you guys think of the 50th Annual Grammy Awards? What was your favorite performance? What performance fell flat? What was your favorite moment of the awards show?
Posted by Reecie
Reecie
thehonorable
Both parts of Kanye’s performance were on point. IMO that was the first true performance of the night. I felt bad for fergie having to perform so quickly afterwards, you can tell she was a bit nervous. I really have nothing to say about the queing of the music, but at least they did stop it right? I’ve seen people accept Oscars and dedicate them to their deceased loved ones and not receive the same respect, so I was pleasantly surprised when they did it for Kanye.
Co-sign on the Time/Rihanna combo, as well as the collaboration between John and Alicia (if I hear No One one more time…
I’m actually apart of Team Winehouse so I’m gonna go out on a limb here. I didn’t see it as relishing in her drug addict status as much as her performing. She’s only been in rehab for a short minute so I wouldn’t be expecting any “reformed druggie” actions yet. I loved her reaction to winning, it’s been a while since I’ve seen someone truly shocked. It seems like these days certain people could fart in a can for 45 minutes, put it on a cd, and receive a grammy for it. *cough*AliciaKeys&John Mayer *cough*
But maybe I’m just bitter that Jilly from Philly lost
Good reviews Reecie… but guess what, even more impressive… Tina Turner is not in her 50’s she hasn’t been in her 50’s since we were in grade school. She’s 68.
How does Alicia Keys manage to bring the house down every time she performs “No One”?
pure passion and heart. thats what it was.
beyonce looked like she was trying to hard. why oh why.
kanye was just okay to me, he had mad ego attached to him though.
I liked pretty much every performance except Fergie and John Legend, good god that trash SUCKED.
Also Beyonce kinda sucked
I must say that I am a little perturbed about the criticism Kanye is receiving about his acceptance speech. First and foremost, I think people use the word “arrogant” to loosely. There’s a thin line between arrogance and confidence and ‘Ye walks that line no doubt. Arrogance is always shrouded in ignorance and many times when Kanye has these “moments”, as outlandish as they may seem, at the root of it all dude does have a point…and on past discussions about him on this blog and various others, the concensus seemed to be “dude gotta point BUT…” I definitely don’t agree with all of his antics over the years and know that’s the reason he has this big bullseye on his chest at these award shows (I’m convinced they cut the music on him early on purpose in order to get a “Kanye Grammy Moment”). Think about it…this guy brings ratings to every award show he’s involved in b/c everyone is waiting for the moment he self destructs so these award show clowns create these moments. Amy Winehouse..Rihanna…Foo Fighters all had fairly long acceptance speeches and NONE of them had the “wrap it up” music play. Coincidence??..I think not.
I also think it was ill that people were taking shots at him during the night (ie. Vince Gill & Usher). Most people think it’s about the actual award for Kanye but really it’s not. He understands that music moves foward b/c of movements and moments. Nirvana single handedly closing the book on 80’s hair metal bands with one song and ushering a new genre of rock was a movement. Michael Jackson performance at Motown 25 revue was an unforgettable moment in music history. ‘Ye wants to be apart of that legacy…he creates his album with sole purpose of winning the album of the year. That is his goal and when he falls short of the mark his goal hasn’t been validated. People say “Stop complaining!..you’ve won alot of grammys including best rap album” Sheeeeit! that’s a slap in the face b/c he makes music to transcend just the hip hop catergory. NO RAP ALBUM/SONG HAS EVER WON IN THE BIG THREE CATERGORIES (not counting Outkast cause it wasn’t 100% rap..won on the strength of “Hey Ya!”..sorry) If you’re a football team with aspirations of going to the Superbowl you aren’t happy with just making the playoffs..you wanna win the whooole thing…anything less is nice but unacceptable.
As a black (omg non-rapping) artist I can relate with what Nas is trying to do, because my next series of paintings are big pictures of purely derogatory terms and I think in todays society it’s easy to forget about racism because face it our generation has it better than any but it’s still there. I haven’t gone a fucking day on X-box live without being called Nigger cuz online people are protected by anonymity so they can be racist we no bad consequences, and they exercise that advantage. And just like Nas’s Album Hip hop is dead it’s an outlandish Warhol-esque publicity stunt but I’m glad because he’s showing you what the world still thinks of him at the end of the day. A good artist isn’t just a decorater he’s a prophet too and watch because of nas’s “incorrigible” behavior I’ll be able to dialogue about the N-word and share and talking about opinions that are usually buried for the sake of politeness. Just cuz something like the N-word isn’t acknowledged in society for the doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of strong opinions about it from both sides.
*side-bar*
I do agree that Nas didn’t need to have his whole fuckin entourage wearin the damn shirts though. His was enough.
nas shirt was a promotion for his next album title “nigger” he is not trying to make a statement he is trying to do something he has never done…sell records. he is ignorant and needs to shut the fuck up
I’ll admit though I think it’s tacky in general to rock your album name to a grammy, another reason Nas will never be as prestigious as Jay.
i’ve been tryna see this Nas thing out, at first i thought he was being socially provactive and was gonna foster a real disocurse on the issue, but now i think he is being socially irresponsible… its coming off more as a gimmick and promotion tool rather than a social statement… and he hasnt even really explained the reason in full extent yet
i like alicia keys Live perfomance the best… OMG fergie was the worse, that was so painful to sit through… seriously. i vaguely remember her having at least some semblance of singing talent, i guess it all dissapeared when she was smoking meth
and was it me or did Beyonce’s tribute remind you of the beginning of an AKA stepshow… with the theatrics and lip sync/taped voices
and i love love love amy winehouse, but her performance was absolutely hilarious—- i kept saying ” OMG she is such a crackhead, lol” and her acceptance speech was priceless
So…about the music interuption of Kanye. Had he not spent 2-1/2 minutes talking about how great he was he would have had time to pay tribute to his momma (RIP, respect). EVERY nominated performers is told that they have 3 minutes for an acceptance speech. Kanye decided he wanted to use his 3 minutes to remind us that:
1) “he’s won so many grammys that he’s taking up residency here”
2) “Common can not win an award because he chose to release an album the same year as Kanye.”
AFTER Kanye was done giving himself a verbal self-congratulatory BJ THEN he decides he should pay respect to his momma (of course his 3 minutes were up by this time).
Plus .. don’t for get Kanye’s parting shot “We run this.”
Kanye showed (again) that he’s a spoiled little brat who thinks of himself first and puts thoughts of other way below.
Compare Kanye’s self-aggrandizing speech with that of Herbie Hancock who (paraphrased) reported “I stand here to accept this award on the shoulder of giants before me; Mile Davis and John Coltrane.” Now THATS how you’re supposed to accept an award - recognize that there were those before you who’ve paved the way.
Kanye’s an ass.
yea I was wonderin why he didn’t thank his mom from the jump off and that is his bad but it’s still ass of them to play once he started.
word kanye doesnt know how to talk. period. be humble mention your thanks and leave all the ego for the after-show interviews.
What up Reese. I thought Kanye was on hit. The dude is just confident, not arrogant. To even be there after the loss of his mom is a big deal. Reese, I need you to check out my homie, Shei Atkins. Shei is a cool chick that has some great music that people need to know about. I was looking for an email address on you instead of posting here but, I didn’t find one. Check her out at
http://www.myspace.com/sheiatkins
I don’t dislike Kanye, but I definitely wasn’t thrilled with his acceptance speech, particularly the comment about Common.
i could wait to commet on the awards. I feel kanye west is a joke, he can’t sing and for that matter write a song. there is no talent in these so call entertainers.Now then you speak the names of alicia keys, john legend these young people are professional and take this gift serious. Who is this so called singer think he is by telling the people there how to run the show!!! He is so obnixous and i just hope he comes to his senses, because he may be here today, but tommarow is yet to come!!!! rz