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Notable Celebs Missing From This Year's "Boring" Grammy's + Kendrick Lamar Sweeps Rap Categories & Hip Hop Boycotts


Was there a lack of star power at The Grammy's this year? 

Yes, Adele and Lady Gaga slayed the stage and Beyonce made a brief appearance, but was it enough? 

 Time and time again people complain about The Grammy's being boring, but it's because their favorite celeb decided not to show up.

 The Grammy's, Quick Recap: Watch Kendrick Lamar's Greatness, Lady Gaga's David Bowie Tribute, Taylor Swift's Shade & More!

 Noticeably missing at The Grammy's this year were hip hop artists like Jay-Z (who has previously accused The Grammy's of not respecting rap), Drake (The Toronto rapper was nominated for 5 Grammy's this year, but won none), Kanye West (who threatened to boycott the award show if he didn't win 'Album Of The Year') and Nicki Minaj (who previously stated she would not attend The Grammy's this year although The Pinkprint album was nominated for 'Album Of The Year.')

 Rihanna would've been a huge plus at this year's Grammy's, but she had to pull and rest her vocals, reportedly. 

 Lauryn Hill (who won 'Album of the Year' in 1999 and many other Grammy's for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill) also reportedly pulled out of her Grammy's performance Monday night with The Weeknd at the last minute. 

 Other huge entertainers like Chris Brown and Katy Perry were also M.I.A at this year's Grammy's. 


 So what's the deal? 

 Many of these huge entertainers who were missing Monday night are rappers. 

 Back in the '80s, The Grammy's refused to televise the hip hop portion. The award show is also accused of being extremely commercialized. 

 In 1989, Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff won the first ever Grammy given to a rap artist. Will Smith later on explained how him and a number of other rap artists boycotted The Grammy's back then because they weren't televising the rap portion. 

 Well, fast forward almost 30 years later and tonight, the first televised award went to a rap artist, Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick was also the most nominated artist this year with 11 noms. 

 But, this of course comes after the 2014 controversy when a more pop-centric (and white) rapper Macklemore and Ryan Lewis pretty much swept the rap awards that year. They also beat out Kendrick for 'Best Rap Album.'

 Although Kendrick lost that year, his greatness shined onstage when he teamed up with Imagine Dragons and performed his hit "m.A.A.d city." Kendrick killed it! This had people talking: one of the best performances of that night, great lyricist, but he went home empty handed. Hmm. 

 Did You Know: Macklemore has more Grammy's than Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G., DMX, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Big Pun, Nas, Public Enemy, KRS-ONE and Run DMC.

 Rap legend Nas has never won a Grammy! Crazy ish. 

 Although Kendrick got snubbed in 2014 (he was nominated for 7 Grammy's that year), he won 'Best Rap Song' and 'Best Rap Performance' for his hit "i" at the 2015 Grammy's (Kendrick was not in attendance that year). 

 But check this, last year, no rap categories were televised ... a first in 25 years. 

 Not a good look, Grammy's. 

 This year, Kendrick Lamar walked on to that Grammy's stage, killed his performance, outshined everyone and went home with 5 awards ... 5 out of 11 (but he didn't win the top prize, Taylor Swift did). 

 Did You Know: A rap song has never won 'Song Of The Year.' 

 All in all, it was Kendrick who repped for the hip hop community on Monday night. He didn't boycott The Grammy's like other rap artists have, just because he lost in 2014 to a white rap artist. He didn't abandon the show all together. And, on Monday night, his fans and all hip hop fans got to see him LIVE while he accepted his award and while he performed. 

Just think: if Kendrick Lamar boycotted the Grammy's, we wouldn't have been blessed to watch his phenomenal performance. 

Then yes, for me, The Grammy's would have been boring because his performance this year was everything and more. 

Major Hip Hop Snub: Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg has been nominated for 17 Grammy's... he's never won!

 The rapper posted on Instagram earlier:

 "No need to blow smoke up my _ _ _ I'd rather blow some real smoke with my loved ones and count the 17xs I been invited with the same results Shot out to my family that getting it in winning hosting and just showing up for the cause enjoy the festivities my green room open all night."

 Snoop also posted a video (shown below) where he said, "f*ck The Grammy's."

 I think it's safe to say Snoop Dogg is all the way done with The Grammy's... even if he were to win, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't care to show up. 

 Another hip hop legend, Ice Cube, presented the very first award at this year's Grammy's and then he bounced!

 In the video below, Ice Cube says he wasn't going to sit through three hours of "bullsh*t."


I think most rappers have given up on needing anything from the Grammy's. Real hip hop doesn't need the validation, but in the end, it seems like the fans are hurting because here comes the "oh, The Grammy's are boring" tweets and whatnot. 

Well, The Grammy's may be boring to you because you don't see your favorite onstage. The reason why you don't see your favorite onstage is because for years, there has been this problem: The Grammy's has not gotten hip hop right after all these years, and this makes most of our favorite rappers not show up!

We do have other award shows, like the BET Hip Hop Awards (where Snoop Dogg has been the chosen host) and The Source Awards used to be huge back in the day. 

Maybe something else is needed for the hip hop community? 

During the infamous 1989 Grammy's boycott, Will, Jazz and other hip hop artists filmed an episode of “Yo! MTV Raps” instead of attending the Grammy's that year. 

Maybe something like this needs to happen again so The Grammy's can wake up again and get the message ... Then maybe our favorite hip hop artists can come back, just maybe ... Then maybe we would stop complaining that the show is "boring." 

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