With the release of Chance The Rapper's much anticipated 3rd album Chance 3, Chance put out another surprise album (or mix tape, free album, whatever, by the name of Coloring Book) to, oh, I don't know... say thank you to fans? Now fans have 2 new projects to judge strictly off of 1 full listen, instead of just one (I'm still angry that people do this, in case you can't tell). But this is not the focus of this post; Chance's music has been hailed all over the underground rap scene for a minute now, and has been ever since his 2nd album (which many hail as a classic, and probably the best tape of 2013) Acid Rap. Now that Chance is back on the scene, people are already saying his newest projects might even be Grammy worthy. Yes, I said GRAMMY worthy. Slow down guys. Anyways, this is also not the point of this post. Read below a quote from Change.org.
"Ridiculously talented artists who are releasing free mixtapes and projects are not getting the recognition they truly deserve because the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences insists that to be eligible for a prestigious Grammy Award that the music must be "commercially released in general distribution in the United States, i.e. sales by label to a branch or recognized independent distributor, via the Internet, or mail order/retail sales for a nationally marketed product. Recordings must be available for sale from any date within the eligibility period through at least the date of the current year’s voting deadline (final ballot)." This means that artists like Chance the Rapper, who are now getting national recognition and performing on national platforms (just this past week Chance performed on the Jimmy Fallon show) are being punished for making their music available to everyone, rich or poor, by releasing their music for free. It's obvious that these artists are making their music more accessible to people who deserve it even if they can't afford it, as well as decreasing pirating and illegally downloading music. Not all artists should be forced to release their music for free, but the ones who do should not be punished for doing so."
This person has a point. Some of the best music of the last 15 years (obviously and especially in hip hop) has been free off of mix tapes/free albums. The magnitude of the mix tape (or free album) almost doesn't resonate in any other genre besides hip hop, I mean when was the last time you saw the Foo Fighters put out an entire project for free? It's just not going to happen. Regardless of this, hip hop is known to be the most popular genre in the world (or at least in 2015 it was). Isn't it safe to say that hip hop holds a teeny tiny little bit of weight in the music industry now? It's 2016, let's get off the jaded hate of hip hop and just start dancing to stupid songs like OT Genasis' "Cut It".
So let's make this happen. I just signed the petition to allow free music to be eligible for Grammy nomination, and you should too. Now we the less important people (based on musical judgment or whatever, you know what I mean) can make a difference to our favorite rappers and projects! The time for free hip hop music to get global recognition is now! Wouldn't it be fun to be able to throw together a list of your favorite free projects of the year and debate which one deserves that coveted Grammy trophy? Now somebody like Curren$y would be a shoe in for a nomination; but that's neither here nor there. But anyways, in the mumbled, repetitive words of Future; "They gon' think I won a Grammy." You'll find the link to sign the petition below!
https://www.change.org/p/national-academy-of-recording-arts-and-sciences-allow-free-music-to-be-eligible-for-grammy-nomination?recruiter=14235962&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition
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