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Diddy calls out Grammys for ‘disrespecting black music’

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Diddy. (Photo:Getty Images/Gallo Images)
Diddy. (Photo:Getty Images/Gallo Images)

Cape Town - This past Saturday saw some of our favourite celebrities attending the Clive Davis Pre-Grammys Gala at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California and in true Grammys award-acceptance speech style – there was drama.

This time around, it was brought by rapper Diddy who slammed the recording academy for disrespecting black music during his acceptance speech after being presented with the Industry Icon award.

According to Essence, in his speech which was 45-minutes long, the I’ll be missing you rapper spoke out against the Grammys.

“I’m being honored by the industry that I love, the family that I love, but there’s an elephant in the room and it’s not just about the Grammys. There’s discrimination and injustice everywhere,” Diddy began addressing the issue.

“Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys. Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point that it should be,” he continued.

In a clip that Diddy shared onto his Twitter page from the event, he continues to call out the recording academy.

“I say this with love to the Grammys, you need to know this,” he begins.

“Every year ya’ll be killing us man. I’m talking about the pain, I’m speaking for all the artists here, producers and executives: In the great words of Erykah Badu, 'We are artists, and we are sensitive about our shit.' For most of us, this is all we've got. This is our only hope,” he continues before addressing the allegations of the Grammy’s being rigged.

“So right now, with this current situation," Diddy continued as the crowd cheered.

 "It's not a revelation. This thing been going on, not just in music, but in film, sports, around the world. And for years we've allowed institutions that have never had our best interests at heart to judge us — and that stops right now.”

“I'm officially starting the clock: You've got 365 days to get this shit together," he said.

 "We need the artists to take back control. We need transparency. We need diversity. This is the room that has the power to [force] the change that needs to be made. They have to make the changes for us: They're a nonprofit organization that is supposed to protect the welfare of the musical community. That's what is says on the mission statement: They work for us…”

The rapper also concluded his speech by dedicating his award to the late Michael Jackson for and other artists.

“And I want to dedicate this award to Michael Jackson for Off the Wall, Prince for 1999, Beyoncé for Lemonade, Missy Elliott for The Real World, Snoop Dogg for Doggystyle, Kanye West for Graduation, aye yo, and Nas for Illmatic. Clive, I love you to death. I love you, I love you, I love you,” he said.

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