The bottom line is that a lot of Grammy voters are older, and they can relate to an artist like Bruno Mars, seeing him on a continuum from James Brown to Michael Jackson to Prince. Pluse his songs are melodic and have hooks.

Most rap/hip-hop is alienating to these older voters, many of whom actually mastered playing an instrument. The use of sampling, and the structure of a lot of the songs, along with the performing styles of many of the artists, is not something they can relate to easily.

laurarichardson said:

CynicKill said:

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a minute and present the popular premise that had a black artist put out the same record that Bruno Mars put out it would've gone aluminum, not platinum.

The same could be said for Cardi B. People are eating up her ghetto shtick because it's coming from a fair-skinned POC. Would the reaction to her be way harsher were she black?

The same arguements were made about Adele. White singer; best thing since sliced bread. Black singer; ho-hum.

BTW I persoannly enjoy the Bruno Mars project.

Bruno said he was told when he first came into the industry that he had great songs but industry big wigs told him that had to find some blue eyed white boys to sing the songs.

It this is true his not being black did not help him at all. In the meantime why don't some black artist do some music like Bruno so we can see what would happen instead of putting out crap.

In Bruno's defense (cue lightning strikes and crying babies) he and "The Smeezingtons" did score a pretty substantial hit with Cee-Lo's "Fuck You", which was a strong original tune... and actually kinda Motown-y.

StrangeButTrue said:

laurarichardson said:

Bruno said he was told when he first came into the industry that he had great songs but industry big wigs told him that had to find some blue eyed white boys to sing the songs.

It this is true his not being black did not help him at all. In the meantime why don't some black artist do some music like Bruno so we can see what would happen instead of putting out crap.

In Bruno's defense (cue lightning strikes and crying babies) he and "The Smeezingtons" did score a pretty substantial hit with Cee-Lo's "Fuck You", which was a strong original tune... and actually kinda Motown-y.

Well he wanted to be a solo act and perform his own songs and at first he was told that was not going to happen because he was not the right color. I am sure his win this year is extra sweet and the haters can suck it.

Go write some better songs.

jjhunsecker said:

They better leave my future baby daddy alone I know that damn much!

Graycap23 said:

Lol......all of this fuss over an artist who will be forgotten in 5 years.

People said the same thing about Madonna. Plus he was a songwrtier first so he could be around for a while.

MotownSubdivision said:

cloveringold85 said:

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You're not too old.

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Well, I grew up in the 70s & 80s, so I'm probably your parents age, LOL

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I always love it when I hear the younger generation appreciating the music of the 80s. There was a lot of good music coming out during that time. Music really started to change in the 80s -- hip-hop came on the scene, and techno/new wave......it was a nice mix of everything.

Well thank you! The 80s had it all. New genres, new stylings of old genres, new artists, old artists, very fun looking at the charts from back then seeing old favorites and making new ones. Can't think of a better decade for music as a whole. BTW, forgive the grammar and spelling mistakes, I'm typing all this on my phone.

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I understood you; it's all good.

Regarding Bruno's ethnicity; the same thing happened with Prince. People wanted to know was he black or white? Same thing with Madonna; everyone wanted to know who is that girl, because she sounded black on the radio. Mariah Carey's Father was African-American/Venezuelan and her Mother is Irish, but no one ever talks about that. I've never seen Mariah embrace her Irish ancestry, and I'm Irish-American; I could take offense to that, but I don't. I do find it odd, but I don't hold it against her.

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[Edited 1/31/18 13:16pm]

cloveringold85 said:

Regarding Bruno's ethnicity; the same thing happened with Prince. People wanted to know was he black or white? Same thing with Madonna; everyone wanted to know who is that girl, because she sounded black on the radio. Mariah Carey's Father was African-American/Venezuelan and her Mother is Irish, but no one ever talks about that. I've never seen Mariah embrace her Irish ancestry, and I'm Irish-American; I could take offense to that, but I don't. I do find it odd, but I don't hold it against her.

[Edited 1/31/18 13:16pm]

Prince caught a lot of heat after Purple Rain for getting "weird," not being "Black enough" and abandoning his "roots," and preferring white/light women.

namepeace said:

cloveringold85 said:

Regarding Bruno's ethnicity; the same thing happened with Prince. People wanted to know was he black or white? Same thing with Madonna; everyone wanted to know who is that girl, because she sounded black on the radio. Mariah Carey's Father was African-American/Venezuelan and her Mother is Irish, but no one ever talks about that. I've never seen Mariah embrace her Irish ancestry, and I'm Irish-American; I could take offense to that, but I don't. I do find it odd, but I don't hold it against her.

[Edited 1/31/18 13:16pm]

Prince caught a lot of heat after Purple Rain for getting "weird," not being "Black enough" and abandoning his "roots," and preferring white/light women.

.

Yes, he sure did. It frustrated him to no end too. That's why he wrote "Controversy". He didn't want emphasis being put on his race; and he looked at all of us as his brothers and sisters. I guess he wanted his music to reach all races, not just black or white. That's why a lot of people could not understand what he was about.

MotownSubdivision said:

People just wanted a black person to win and got mad when that person of color didn't. Just wait. Watch Taylor Swift win AotY at the next show, possibly be the only white nominee and everything be all hunky dory because she's painted as America's sweetheart. Watch the double standards explode when a mediocre act gets a pass for a hollow, mediocre album because she's a woman while a multitalented act got scorned for making a safe but good, fun album all because he wasn't quite dark enough. [Edited 1/31/18 14:15pm]

LOL, that already happened. Her name is Beyonce and nobody said shit when she swept several awards shows a few years ago.

In fact mofos tried to have kittens when Adele took one little statue away from her. It was so bad that the silly woman damn near apologized for doing so....smh.

jjhunsecker said:

EmmaMcG said:

Hudson said: It seems odd to me. I don't want to derail the thread so I'll leave it there but any non white person I've ever met doesn't like either term. Anyway, thanks for the response.

Person of Color means that the person isn't White- it can emcompass Asians, Africans, Native Americans, Latinos, etc.

Calling someone "colored" sounds like a time warp back to 1953

Exactly. Colored is an antiquated term from the days of segregation. Emma can't relate because she would not have a frame of reference from that time period especially not being American. POC is a fairly recent description with a completely different context and connotation.

laurarichardson said:

Graycap23 said:

Lol......all of this fuss over an artist who will be forgotten in 5 years.

People said the same thing about Madonna. Plus he was a songwrtier first so he could be around for a while.

Don't mind old salty. He bitter....

babynoz said:

MotownSubdivision said:

People just wanted a black person to win and got mad when that person of color didn't. Just wait. Watch Taylor Swift win AotY at the next show, possibly be the only white nominee and everything be all hunky dory because she's painted as America's sweetheart. Watch the double standards explode when a mediocre act gets a pass for a hollow, mediocre album because she's a woman while a multitalented act got scorned for making a safe but good, fun album all because he wasn't quite dark enough. [Edited 1/31/18 14:15pm]

LOL, that already happened. Her name is Beyonce and nobody said shit when she swept several awards shows a few years ago.

In fact mofos tried to have kittens when Adele took one little statue away from her. It was so bad that the silly woman damn near apologized for doing so....smh.

I was not instantly sold on Bruno but I was inclined to give him a chance, so I watched and listened to him extensively, with an open mind. Consequently I learned a great deal about him. He writes, composes, plays multiple instruments, sings and dances his ass off. If he isn't your thing then fine. Bey isn't my thing but I would never be so stupid as to say she isn't talented and hard working because she is. Bruno works even harder than she does.

Bruno never claimed to re invent the wheel or make deep, navel gazing music. He brings the party and the fun and people are sooooo ready for that right now. So many are sick of all the angry, angsty, rachet shit that appeals to the lowest common denominator being shoved down their throats. People are getting tired of [N word - luv4u] this and b--ch that.

Bruno Mars is a breath of fresh air to a lot of people. Consider this. A whole family can go to his shows together from grandma to fifth graders and have a great time as I witnessed when I saw him live in October. In a world of nonstop filth that means a lot. There are not many artists left that have such broad appeal and the idiots in the industry are finally starting to see that.

Not only do we need the industry to recognize black artists work, the artists need to elevate their game instead of whining and helping to debase their own culture instead of upholding it. It isn't Bruno's fault that too many of our artists are producing garbage because they have no respect for their own legacy.

The hate needs to stop.

QueenofPurplePalace said:

babynoz said:

LOL, that already happened. Her name is Beyonce and nobody said shit when she swept several awards shows a few years ago.

In fact mofos tried to have kittens when Adele took one little statue away from her. It was so bad that the silly woman damn near apologized for doing so....smh.

babynoz said:

kitbradley said:

So media wanted shit-hop to sweep the awards with j-z and kendrick lamar winning the main awards??? I just don't get the fascination with these two and their alledged genius.

IKR? The only problem I had is with it was Bruno lowering himself to appear onstage with the latest shit hop disaster. He should not co-sign such fuckery.

Hip hop used to be diverse and interesting. Even though I'm not a fan I think that Kendrick and J made good albums last year. Unfortunately most of the genre has been taken over by sub par artists.

babynoz said:

EmmaMcG said:

babynoz said:

Exactly. Colored is an antiquated term from the days of segregation. Emma can't relate because she would not have a frame of reference from that time period especially not being American. POC is a fairly recent description with a completely different context and connotation.

Both sound equally wrong to me. I know why "coloured person" is a racist term. I'm just confused as to why "person of colour" is not. It's the same thing only with the words in a different order. A friend of mine who is a black American guy, born and raised in New York, thinks that both terms are insulting and would rather be called neither. And this is a guy who is not easily offended. Like I said in an earlier post, I've never personally used either term and I never will. Unless I'm talking about some guy who is part blue, part red, part green and has pink polkadots on his cheeks. Because THAT would be a person of colour! In keeping with the point of the thread, I'll reiterate that of the artists who were actually nominated, I believe Bruno Mars deserved to win. And that's coming from someone who is not generally a Bruno Mars fan.

From what I've seen Bruno deserves everything he's worked for. Full disclosure, I'm a huge fan of his.

Like I said, it's mainly about context. For example, when I was born we were colored as my brith certificate attests. By the time I was twelve I had become black, then I was a African American adult, now I'm a person of color but because of my perspective I'm not overly bothered with either description. Younger people like your friend might see it differently. The term colored is simply antiquated but I don't find it particularly offensive.

babynoz said:

babynoz said:

MotownSubdivision said:

People just wanted a black person to win and got mad when that person of color didn't. Just wait. Watch Taylor Swift win AotY at the next show, possibly be the only white nominee and everything be all hunky dory because she's painted as America's sweetheart. Watch the double standards explode when a mediocre act gets a pass for a hollow, mediocre album because she's a woman while a multitalented act got scorned for making a safe but good, fun album all because he wasn't quite dark enough. [Edited 1/31/18 14:15pm]

LOL, that already happened. Her name is Beyonce and nobody said shit when she swept several awards shows a few years ago.

In fact mofos tried to have kittens when Adele took one little statue away from her. It was so bad that the silly woman damn near apologized for doing so....smh.

.

Yea, that was stupid. Adele shouldn't have said anything. She has to apologize for getting a Grammy? WTF has this world come to? What is the point of these award shows anymore? They're all stupid anyhow.

MotownSubdivision said:

babynoz said:

I was not instantly sold on Bruno but I was inclined to give him a chance, so I watched and listened to him extensively, with an open mind. Consequently I learned a great deal about him. He writes, composes, plays multiple instruments, sings and dances his ass off. If he isn't your thing then fine. Bey isn't my thing but I would never be so stupid as to say she isn't talented and hard working because she is. Bruno works even harder than she does.

Bruno never claimed to re invent the wheel or make deep, navel gazing music. He brings the party and the fun and people are sooooo ready for that right now. So many are sick of all the angry, angsty, rachet shit that appeals to the lowest common denominator being shoved down their throats. People are getting tired of [N word - luv4u] this and b--ch that.

Bruno Mars is a breath of fresh air to a lot of people. Consider this. A whole family can go to his shows together from grandma to fifth graders and have a great time as I witnessed when I saw him live in October. In a world of nonstop filth that means a lot. There are not many artists left that have such broad appeal and the idiots in the industry are finally starting to see that.

Not only do we need the industry to recognize black artists work, the artists need to elevate their game instead of whining and helping to debase their own culture instead of upholding it. It isn't Bruno's fault that too many of our artists are producing garbage because they have no respect for their own legacy.

The hate needs to stop.

This too. The way things are if Bruno were black or a black person were to make the music Bruno is making then I don't think they'd be getting the same public reception aka not be nearly as successful. Hypothetically speaking, if a black person were to make the same music as Bruno and achieve the same commercial success, I wonder if he would habe cleaned up the same as Bruno did on Sunday. I can't say he would but nevertheless. Bruno is the only dude in the mainstream who explicitly shows old school inspiration in his music. Other artists do to but it's more subtle than Bruno's frequent modernized renditions of black music from the 80s and 90s. Shoot, since Bruno has been leaning strongly into the old school, more artists have actually been picking up on that and trying it themselves. If anything people should be thanking him for bringing back those classic sounds you love and miss so much to a present day audience. You don't habe to be a fan but it's pure ignorance to cast Bruno as some swagger jacking culture vulture who wears black music like a coat on a fair weather day. This man isn't Iggy Azalea or Post Malone who only sought to profit from a culture they know nothing of, Bruno actually is well-versed in his influences and the music they created and all he is doing is putting a modern twist to the music he enjoyed growing up. Another thing is that people complain that he doesn't "innovate". They imply 24K shouldn't have won album of the year because it's "derivative". In that case, what was so sleek and new about the rest of the noms? What was so "innovative" about the standard rapping fare of 4:44 or the trap influenced and more commercial style of DAMN.? What was so fresh about Lorde's Melodrama or Bino's similarly retro-influenced Awaken, My Love!? We can argue about which album was the best of the selected and which should have won till we're blue in the face but you can't drag Bruno for not reinventing the wheel and winning for it when his competition didn't do a damn thing new themselves.

Exactly. I am thankful to him for honoring that legacy especially since he is one of the few actually doing so.

I have watched youtube videos of Bruno in the studio playing instruments and singing. He is no poser, lemme tell ya.

MotownSubdivision said:

babynoz said:

LOL, that already happened. Her name is Beyonce and nobody said shit when she swept several awards shows a few years ago.

In fact mofos tried to have kittens when Adele took one little statue away from her. It was so bad that the silly woman damn near apologized for doing so....smh.

I was referring to Taylor in 2016 but yeah, Bey can qualify too.

Right, forgot about her.

EmmaMcG said:

babynoz said:

Exactly. Colored is an antiquated term from the days of segregation. Emma can't relate because she would not have a frame of reference from that time period especially not being American. POC is a fairly recent description with a completely different context and connotation.

Both sound equally wrong to me. I know why "coloured person" is a racist term. I'm just confused as to why "person of colour" is not. It's the same thing only with the words in a different order. A friend of mine who is a black American guy, born and raised in New York, thinks that both terms are insulting and would rather be called neither. And this is a guy who is not easily offended. Like I said in an earlier post, I've never personally used either term and I never will. Unless I'm talking about some guy who is part blue, part red, part green and has pink polkadots on his cheeks. Because THAT would be a person of colour! In keeping with the point of the thread, I'll reiterate that of the artists who were actually nominated, I believe Bruno Mars deserved to win. And that's coming from someone who is not generally a Bruno Mars fan.

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Black people who I've spoken to about the term "colored person", said it's disrespectful because it goes back to the days of slavery and that is how they were referred. I can totally understand that. It does sound very 1800s.

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I agree; saying "a person of color" is saying the same thing.

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Black people that I associate with say they prefer to be called black.

cloveringold85 said:

babynoz said:

LOL, that already happened. Her name is Beyonce and nobody said shit when she swept several awards shows a few years ago.

In fact mofos tried to have kittens when Adele took one little statue away from her. It was so bad that the silly woman damn near apologized for doing so....smh.

.

Yea, that was stupid. Adele shouldn't have said anything. She has to apologize for getting a Grammy? WTF has this world come to? What is the point of these award shows anymore? They're all stupid anyhow.

I was sooo mad at her for that.

babynoz said:

MotownSubdivision said:

babynoz said: This too. The way things are if Bruno were black or a black person were to make the music Bruno is making then I don't think they'd be getting the same public reception aka not be nearly as successful. Hypothetically speaking, if a black person were to make the same music as Bruno and achieve the same commercial success, I wonder if he would habe cleaned up the same as Bruno did on Sunday. I can't say he would but nevertheless. Bruno is the only dude in the mainstream who explicitly shows old school inspiration in his music. Other artists do to but it's more subtle than Bruno's frequent modernized renditions of black music from the 80s and 90s. Shoot, since Bruno has been leaning strongly into the old school, more artists have actually been picking up on that and trying it themselves. If anything people should be thanking him for bringing back those classic sounds you love and miss so much to a present day audience. You don't habe to be a fan but it's pure ignorance to cast Bruno as some swagger jacking culture vulture who wears black music like a coat on a fair weather day. This man isn't Iggy Azalea or Post Malone who only sought to profit from a culture they know nothing of, Bruno actually is well-versed in his influences and the music they created and all he is doing is putting a modern twist to the music he enjoyed growing up. Another thing is that people complain that he doesn't "innovate". They imply 24K shouldn't have won album of the year because it's "derivative". In that case, what was so sleek and new about the rest of the noms? What was so "innovative" about the standard rapping fare of 4:44 or the trap influenced and more commercial style of DAMN.? What was so fresh about Lorde's Melodrama or Bino's similarly retro-influenced Awaken, My Love!? We can argue about which album was the best of the selected and which should have won till we're blue in the face but you can't drag Bruno for not reinventing the wheel and winning for it when his competition didn't do a damn thing new themselves.

Exactly. I am thankful to him for honoring that legacy especially since he is one of the few actually doing so.

I have watched youtube videos of Bruno in the studio playing instruments and singing. He is no poser, lemme tell ya.

.

Bruno is very talented. I've seen him in the studio, whipping-out melodies. I saw him performing when he was just a kid, and he was very talented then; you could tell he was going to be a successful performer. I think he is a likable person and a good entertainer and he appeals to a wide age group.