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misterbenzadrine · 2 days ago

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♡ day 4: miguel diaz ♡

sooo there's a lot that could theoretically be said about miguel right? he's a really good fighter, he makes mistakes but usually a really good person, he has a really strong/dedicated/supportive personality? blah blah blah, i wanna get into the MAIN reason i love miguel

MI GENTE LATINO 🗣️

okay so basically growing up with these characters has meant a lot to me. but miguel specifically was such an important part of my development. when i first started the show, johnny and daniel yeah cool great, the legacy lives on, whatever. BUT WHEN THEY SHOWED MIGUEL, i was awestruck. obviously this was at a time when hispanic/latino culture was entering the mainstream in america/internationally but to see a character on screen as the main character who isn't entirely played off as a stereotype for jokes?? hell yeah !

the showrunners making miguel such a powerful and kind-hearted character meant, and still does mean, so much to me as a latino kid. it was so cool and heart-warming to see him up there just absolutely beating the odds and being the coolest. and yeah, there are a couple race jokes (which admittedly i think are really funny) but overall carmen, rosa, and miguel are sosososo important to me and i will never get over the fact that miguel was probably the first time i personally saw a latino lead in a primarily white show

and i'm sure xolo knows this but i cannot be the only one who appreciated miguel and what he meant for television and i'm so glad xolo got a saturn award for miguel bc he really deserved it. miguel and (off-topic but) jaime reyes (blue beetle) mean the world to me and i will never be over them i fear. so to all the miguel haters, you can hate, you can say the writers have no clue what they're doing and he's a bad character, whatever i don't care, miguel is forever my heart (not even just a part, he IS my heart) and he will always mean the world to me, okay? okay. now we move on to business.

his relationship with carmen and rosa is peak. his relationship with johnny is AMAZING and carries the show so hard (it's harder to enjoy knowing robby is right there but i digress). his bonding with daniel in s4 is truly amazing. the way his potential dynamic with any given miyagi-do kid would work and be cute is an amazing feat.

my brain kind of skipped over his paralysis storyline when i started planning what to write in this. which seems CRAZY bc that's his biggest story. but i think the reason i skipped over it was bc the writers seem to have a tendency to employ really interesting conflicts and plots and then abandon them without any meaningful callback. so why don't we get a meaningful callback to his possible ptsd from the fall in s5/6? (ESPECIALLY s6, but i digress) (maybe they'll use it as another motivation for miguel in the end) ("look at everything you've been through, miguel, you can beat anything ! 🤩" /s)

miguel's fall from the second story was insane, right? i remember watching with my mom and both of us sat there in silence while he fell, then flinched and looked away when he hit the railing. they ate SO HARD with that finale, it was amazing how enraptured we were. and i KNOW we weren't the only ones. i've seen reaction videos and this was a moment that really pulled everyone in, everyone felt the shock, everyone wanted to know how miguel was going to come back from this. THIS, to me, is what pulled that final group of viewers. this is the most important part of the show, even six years later.

the show had a good following from youtube, then got a bigger following in season 2 (and from moving to netflix obviously). but this finale is the one EVERYONE still talks about. there are STILL edits made about miguel's fall. the s6 brawl was great but nothing will ever compare to that fall bc it demonstrated the tension that was built up and the gradual change of the four main characters in such a GORGEOUS way. stay with me

(i'd also like to preface this by saying i'm a miguel-plot truther, i truly believe the writers see miguel as THE main character for the teen cast. basically he IS the plot, he is an in-universe reflection of the overarching plot, and therefore anything that occurs plot-wise is going to affect or be affected by miguel in some way. no hate to any other character !! this is my perspective as a writer, you can ignore if you don't like that ig 😭)

so season 2 was great for several reasons, but for now, we're focusing on the love...square(?) of tory, robby, miguel, and sam.

so we start with miguel starring as the dweeb, sam as the mean rich girl (though that was just demetri's perception of her, not actually who she was), robby as the delinquent troublemaker, and tory as the self-assured new girl. now, WE as viewers know they're so much more complex than that, both on first watch and in hindsight; they have to be more complex, otherwise we wouldn't be watching the show. but this is their perceived roles in the grand scheme, in the social hierarchy, in the eyes of their peers, etc.

by the end of season one (except tory obviously), robby has become like daniel: balanced, kind, focused, and righteous), sam has evolved into the nice girl with a big heart, and miguel has become the alpha jerk that has a loyal band of followers right behind him, waiting to cause mischief and wreak havoc. again, OBVIOUSLY we know exactly how and why they change and exactly why they're perceived like this. we see miguel's anxiety spiral about losing sam, we see johnny unintentionally showing him how to be cool by asserting dominance (we also know that johnny failed with ali for that exact reason, though he and miguel don't know that). and we see exactly why robby takes to miyagi-do, why he's driven to take daniel's teachings to heart, bc we know how johnny and his mom have treated him. and with sam, we see that she's just a normal teenage girl, she wants to be pretty and popular but she's not mean. however comma, they don't see this context in each other, and therefore, tensions rise.

a general rule of thumb for the whole show: everything is about perspective, balance, and misunderstandings.

after spending a whole season with tory, we see each of the little instances that drives tory away from being her initial introduction into the angry, revenge-seeking (probably insecure) villain she's made out to be in later seasons. we see every moment her eyes get a little duller, a little darker when she knows she's being compared to sam, when she knows sam is seen as better than her, and for what? what does sam have that she doesn't? so she changes.

by the end of season two, miguel shifts into a mix of his two sides: he is the kind boy he used to be but also a confident and capable fighter. robby throughout the season gets progressively more frustrated with miyagi-do being purely defense and peace, wondering why daniel won't just let them fight back against cobra kai or demonstrate the miyagi-do fighting style instead of katas to attract new students. and sam gets progressively more embarrassed and frustrated with tory's presence and the fact that she's dating miguel; she loses her dignity every time she tries to get back at tory, and slowly chips away at that pure-hearted reputation she built up in season one.

so all of them flip-flopped to either side of the spectrum right? which makes the finale that much better ! personally, sam's peak pendulum moment was the whole party, being petty and going low enough to get back at tory with the drinking game, being her sassy self toward robby, then kissing miguel at the end. then, in the fight, tory becoming violent enough to actually start a fight and also scar sam's arm, miguel (at the end) deciding to take mercy on robby, in a moment that very much could've ended like the golf n' stuff fight. instead it ends with robby's full swing all the way to the angry side of the pendulum, blinded and motivated through violence, and takes miguel's moment of mercy as weakness, kicking him over that banister.

so this is a very pivotal moment for all of the characters but miguel especially. this shows the moment they've all switched. ANOTHER miscommunication. this is the moment we see just how much karate has changed all of them for the worse.

i personally love dream sequences in cobra kai and this is my second fav (the first being sam's sensory deprivation "who am i" dream)

so his coma is important to the plot, it's kind of a stalemate at first. the miyagi-do kids are in shock over the whole situation and try to help miguel with the fundraiser. but the cobra kai kids are enraged and far more motivated/bloodthirsty than ever before. to them, it was miyagi-do that kicked miguel off the balcony, not everyone's ridiculously intense focus on violence instead of cyberbullying each other in their private stories and group chats like normal teenagers.

so him being in a coma means a pause for everyone else, tory doesn't start fights, robby's on the run and m.i.a., and the only ones who are playing dirty are hawk and sam (and their groupies obvi), just picking on each other enough to be a bother but not for another fight to break out. and both sides tell themselves they're doing it for miguel. WHY? just hate each other, why do you need an unconscious kid to project onto? and it's bc miguel is so integral in all of their lives. none of this karate crap would've happened without miguel. so this is both the writers and the characters tracing everything back to miguel, bc thats their only valid excuse that isn't "we have issues and like to punch things to deal with it." he convinced hawk and demetri to join (which encouraged the others), he won the all-valley (unfairly but i digress) which attracted even more students, the only reason johnny even brought cobra kai back was bc miguel begged him to. and on the other side, daniel restarted miyagi-do to compete with johnny, robby joined miyagi-do to piss off johnny, sam joined miyagi-do yes to spend time with robby but also bc the karate craze originated with miguel ! he, like it or not, is the catalyst for a lot of this stuff.

miguel's dorkiness, his anger, his violence, his kindness, his strength, everything cultivated and jumpstarted the series (with help from johnny and daniel obvi). and yeah, obviously you could trace a lot of things back to things that barely connect. i could say all of this happened bc kreese's gf died. i could say none of this would've happened if mr. miyagi didn't work as a maintenance man. and yes, it could be said that miguel isn't necessarily the main reason for a lot of this, but you have to admit he is a reason, which i think the writers definitely intended.

so miguel, coma. everyone's tense but no one's really FIGHTING, not until miguel wakes up. he wakes up, johnny's self-pity spiral finally flips since he's motivated to help miguel, robby gets arrested, hawk and sam's growing tension becomes direct and physical, and tory rejoins cobra kai. so the second miguel is out, the world stops. but the second he wakes up, everything jumps into action due to that built-up tension. (it's giving that one scene in teen beach movie where they're all standing around and they know they're supposed to get in a brawl but the order of events got messed up and they don't know what to do)

then miguel's journey through the wheelchair is so interesting and i'm going based on memory so genuinely if this is wrong, correct me. but we never really see miguel in the wheelchair interact with anyone besides johnny and maybe carmen/rosa. i think this is just a fault in the writing (side note: i don't see it enough but i love disabled miguel art/fics ! seeing him use mobility aids is so idk interesting for him as a character i would've loved to see him hanging out with demetri or hawk or even sam with the wheelchair or the crutches. i think he only ever talks to tory during that time and we all know how that convo went. idk PLEASE SOMEONE MAKE MORE MOBILITY AID MIGUEL I WOULD LOVE TO SEE MORE OF THAT.)

so anyway, miguel, personal journey to learn how to walk again. this is a very sweet storyline to build up the relationship between him and johnny. it demonstrates miguel's internal frustration not just with what he sees as a setback, but also with johnny's self-pity spiral. i also really like that johnny doesn't really give a shit about safety and doesn't try to put limits on miguel. bro LITERALLY set his foot on fire to get him walking again like ?? 😭 it also shows how much johnny trusts and believes in miguel. not just for miguel's own growth but miguel's belief in johnny's growth. he actually listens to this child who's telling him he's great and shouldn't stand to the side while someone takes what's his and johnny's like "you son of a bitch, i'm in." so miguel's frustration (tension) keeps building and building until he finally walks again (just like the ploooot~~)

for story purposes, i'm not even gonna get into how fast it took miguel to recover or the fact that johnny's training actually WORKED, let's just settle on suspension of disbelief dkjfksj

so the second miguel can walk again and starts trying to reattempt karate, the tension just keeps going going going. robby officially cuts off johnny and joins cobra kai, hawk breaks demetri's arm and brucks's face, sam's ptsd is in FULL swing and getting worse, kyler joins cobra kai, and tory is peak kreese soldier.

ANOTHER brawl starts, they're losing until hawk switches sides, miguel beats kyler, then they go to stop tory. so this is an instance in which the plot affects miguel rather than vice-versa.

eagle fang/miyagi-do combine, personally johnny's issue with miguel getting close with daniel sets forward the eventual break up, which happens with hawk's buzzcut obvi. i'm gonna be very fr, i don't remember much about s4 other than the CONSTANT hawkmetri flirting but i do remember there was a lot of conflict with miguel, internally with relearning karate and externally with sam and johnny (obvi also robby and tory as well). i think s4 was also the season with the "i love you too robby" moment (which was another jaw-dropping moment for my mom and i but we laughed through the shock). that's another reflection of miguel feeling that inner turmoil and suddenly all the other characters are off-balance too (hawk, johnny, sam, etc.). then THAT s4 finale, with miguel running away after he gets injured mid-fight.

PERSONALLY his trip to mexico was so important to me when they introduced it but it's like never mentioned again and it ends so randomly ??? i also think that was fucked up of johnny to disguise that as a bonding moment for robby just for him to find out the real reason they were there. (i giggle every single time i watch that scene bc the way tanner changes his voice inflection is so funny.)

BUT THIS ISN'T ABOUT ROBBY, THIS IS ABOUT MIGUEL. and i understand this was important for miguel to reinforce who he is and his trust in carmen and johnny. however, if they were gonna write this storyline, let alone this SHOCKING of a storyline, it definitely should've had more of an impact on the narrative. miguel goes ALONE to another freaking country, gets scammed, finds his dad and at first feels betrayed by his mom, then finds out who his dad really is and is TERRIFIED of him for a bit, thankfully gets away from him, and just when he's at his most scared and alone, and admits he was wrong to his mom, johnny finds him and reinforces the fact that he's ALWAYS looking out for him. AN EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER. IDK HOW HE'S NOT MORE TRAUMATIZED OR AT LEAST SHAKEN BY IT. also if this is just me but making miguel's dad awful is yeah, correct, perfect, sure. but idk making him a mob boss...something doesnt feel right. i could be tweaking but it's so ridiculous and takes me out of the moment. i don't personally have any ideas to make it better, again i don't remember s5 very much, but i remember thinking "that's it?" with the mexico storyline. the writers fumbled so hard.

also him and sam breaking up, heartbreaking ! the necklace dropping in the dirt gets me sobbing ! every ! single ! TIME ! though i do love yasmoon and hawkmetri totally fucking it up by meddling, they're so funny. and their break was SO necessary. istg netflix is always shoving trauma-bonded/ptsd-ridden teenagers into relationships with each other instead of a relationship to a THERAPIST. how about you go on a date TO A PSYCHOLOGIST? good on sam for once again being the only emotionally intelligent one in the show !

so yeah. i can't speak for s4/5 (sowwy i don't remember those (╥﹏╥) ) but for s1-3 and s6, it's definitely very miguel-driven.

which is unfortunate at times in a show that has so many cool characters (as i've been demonstrating for the past almost week) but i love miguel, i do love (from a writing standpoint) how he reflects the narrative. when he locks in, the narrative seems a little unstable but when he's BALANCED and locked in, the narrative is SO locked in (which is why i'm trying to be excited for pt 3 bc he's definitely a bit more balanced than he started in pt 2)

i also hope in pt 3 they keep up the trend of him supporting robby. and while i love him and robby, i do wish (like sam and tory) there was a way for them both to win without one of them losing somehow.

also excited to see them both with their baby sister.

ALSO i love that in all the fics i've read, miguel is just an absolute sweetheart to every single person. like the fact that he's such a sweetheart in canon that there's no reason to make him a jerk in fanon is so cute personally (i'm sure in kiaz fics he has like a little jerk stint for the enemies to lovers but ya know)

i love that every fic always makes him straight too. like the ONLY time he's not 100% straight is if he's the main queer pairing (like kiaz, migeli, migmetri)

miguel is an ally in fanon (and canon obvi). unless he's gay. then he's gay. but usually an ally ✨

!! headcanons !!

obsessed with sam. quite literally canon but. if she'll have him, he's sticking with her forever. like he doesn't have eyes for anyone else. (in canon, he literally only goes with other girls to DISTRACT from sam) (samguel endgame truther here) (i'm also a samtory truther) (i contain multitudes)

his best friends are hawk and demetri obvi but right below them is robby. this also works perfectly when he needs to figure out xmas/bday/anniversary gifts for sam bc his bffs are her bffs !

he listens to a lot of hip hop and some indie stuff (he does bond with kenny and hawk over kendrick lamar) (when the drake and kendrick lamar beef happens, despite not talking to each other for a few years, kenny and miguel blow each other's phones up each time kendrick drops a new diss track) (just making my favs kendrick fans bc i can)

after he leaves for college, he promises to text every day and video calls once a week (though it's a struggle for johnny and rosa to figure it out at first until carmen and robby show them how to do it) (johnny insists, and rosa agrees, that phone calls are just as effective as video calls and they're not as complicated) (they both still really appreciate seeing him though)

(personally not a fan of miguel wanting to go to stanford bc for what? it doesn't make sense to me. but i support him ig)

idk if this is already on tory's entry but miguel (just like the arcade scene in s6 pt 1) frequently tries to talk to and hang out with tory in a group setting but she's just really uncomfortable. she gets a little more relaxed but they never really get past the awkwardness and don't get as close as they were before the school fight. it's miguel though, so he always gets her bday gifts and tries to make her feel included. (tory appreciates the effort. it's just hard to forgive the guy who cheated on you emotionally and physically.)

during the s6 e7 ending mega platform challenge (idk the official name) miguel pushes down the anxiety he feels about the height and seeing other people fall from the height and focuses his stress and anger into winning the fight. it isn't until kwon's death that his trauma from the balcony becomes too much to push back.

sam, johnny, robby, and hawk assume he's quiet and reserved bc of the actual death they just witnessed (and honestly they're all too shaken up themselves to put much thought into it). but a few weeks later (right before the events of pt 3) they notice he still seems off and try to get him to open up to varying degrees of success.

it's surprisingly demetri (the professional compartmentalizer himself) that unintentionally gets miguel to open up after he makes an ill-timed joke (trying to joke through his own anxiety over the situation). miguel just starts rambling and working himself up remembering how it felt to fall and how scary it was to be at a similar height where he could potentially fall again then to see someone else's lifeless bloody body ("how can i just move past it? why do i still get freaked out when my foot falls asleep? why can't things be normal like before all this happened?") and demetri just kinda 🧍‍♂️ bc miguel, of all people, freaking out in front of demetri is new territory.

demetri deflects (like usual) and talks about rhodey from the mcu. how he gets shot in mid-air by vision during civil war and falls to the ground. and he survives bc of his suit, becomes paralyzed, and walks again through the leg braces tony stark made for him. ("it's never shown, leave it to marvel to leave out the actually interesting character arcs, but i think vision regretted hurting rhodey like that. vision isn't evil, he and rhodey were both blinded by war. and rhodey has to learn a new normal. he didn't die and he's just as strong as before. worse could've happened but it didn't. and things are different but there's nothing wrong with that. and he always had tony there to pick him back up, to look out for him.")

this pushes miguel to finally talk to the others about his trauma (which they're all kinda traumatized too so he doesn't feel so alone)(demetri absolutely does not know how much it actually affected him and sometimes cringes at the memory, thinking it's yet another moment of inappropriate yapping due to his own discomfort)

also yeah, mentioned above but miguel gets nauseated when his foot falls asleep or when he gets any sharp back pain.

miguel doesn't talk to the younger kids much but the times he does, he and devon like to yap specifically about johnny, he and anthony talk about karate and daniel, and he and kenny talk about music

he tries to keep up with hawk and demetri's nerd stuff but can't keep up nearly as well as robby and sam, he's just there for the vibes

in conclusion: miguel IS cobra kai, i know many people might disagree bc they like the other characters. trust me, i do too ! that's why miguel's not my number one ! but i really do think the writers intend for him to be the whole show, which is why he's so social and has some dynamic with all of the main characters, though they like to abandon some (*cough* daniel and tory *cough*). there truly would be no show without him but i digress. he's so special to me, the latino representation means so much to me, all his wins are my wins, all his losses are my losses. i've basically grown up alongside these characters so i truly feel so close to them. a message to miguel: you've been pushed back, beaten down, you've disappointed yourself, you've disappointed the closest people in your life. but you always come back. no matter what happens. you know how to push through. you are strong. and that wasn't johnny's doing. that wasn't cobra kai or karate. you are naturally persistent and dedicated. you're loyal, you're empathetic, you're confident and you stand up for what you believe in. if there should be any spin-offs or reintroductions of miguel in the future, i can't wait to see where you end up bc i know you'll be doing great in whatever it is. it's been a great seven years watching you grow. i cannot wait to see your finale ending.

#posting this the day of kendrick's superbowl performance #that was unintentional #but still iconic #let miguel be traumatized !#so basically xolo is how i imagine miguel in his 20s #yes even the tiktok dances #migmetri solidarity is so important to me #cobra kai #miguel diaz #hawk moskowitz #demetri alexopoulos #johnny lawrence #sam larusso #samantha larusso #robby keene #tory nichols #daniel larusso

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frankieunscripted · 12 hours ago

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My 2025 Superbowl Halftime Show Analysis

Welcome back to my blog! I ain't forgot about y'all, and I'm still cooking up a deep dive on the Kendrick vs Drake beef (and when I say deep, I mean I'm tryna take it way back to the origin, cause y'all know this shit been simmering in a green cauldron). Anyways, here are my thoughts and ideas (an analysis, if you will) of Kendrick's 2025 Superbowl Halftime Show performance. Note that you have to have seen it in its entirety alteast once in order to take stuff away from this. Let's get this shit!

Bleachers: loading screen going up to 100 like on a video game Stage: Playstation Buttons: Square, X, Triangle, Circle • "The Great American Game" • The Superbowl = biggest American sports event, football being a literal game • The American Game as in chasing The American Dream, the game being rigged; some people have better chances than others, it ain't fair play • Not only the American dream (aka making it big out of nowhere) but just living your life in America can also be seen as "The American Game", especially with games often being connected to pure luck (if you play with dice) as opposed to skill > metaphor for the black experience in the US (ties in to FEAR. (2017) from 17 y/o Kendrick's perspective; I'mma get back to that for the record)

Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam: • SAMUEL L. JACKSON!?!?!?!? • same first name makes it even better • Samuel being one of the biggest Afro-American actors of the century. Our parents grew up watching him, we grew up watching him • usually has roles in movies dealing with racism > "No better than Samuel L on the Django" in i (2014) • previous points make him somewhat of an authority figure in the black media culture (think of Oprah as another e.g.) • Uncle Sam is usually white, a Black version of Uncle Sam is unheard of, because black people don't really represent America "like that"

Lights on bleachers say START, Kendrick starts standing on top of Buick Grand National GNX • Car his Dad drove him home in from the hospital the day he was born > car he started the Great American Game in (game as metaphor for living in America) • Album cover of latest album GNX: Kendrick leaning on the hood of the car; also Grand National Tour starting right about now (National as in USA + 2 Toronto stops, just to claim Drake's city as "part of the Nation") • "all I ever wanted was a black grand national" now he has it > making origins and wished meet your accomplishments

Tiramisu (/Bodies): • GNX album teaser. Kendrick posted that nameless snippet as a teaser for his album on a random Friday morning (morning itself is weird, bc everyone else posts during prime time/at midnight) then half an hour later we got the album. boom. no further roll out, cause he doesn't NEED to do more at that point. But Tiramisu isn't even on the album. We don't know how & when we'll get it, we don't even know what it's called. Some call it Tiramisu, others call it Bodies • Tiramisu started the album roll out > Tiramisu started the halftime show

Hood/Gang: • more people jumping out of the car than fit in it: Back in the day, the homies would just pack into a car and ride around town. No matter where you were going (the hood, the club, some other place), you'd squeeze in all of your friends into that one car > that old 90s cat shit, like when they show you a tape record and ask "whachu kno bout dis, huh?" - cultural/generational differences compared to today's generation > maybe a way of Kendrick connecting to his older audience

Colors: blue, red and white • American flag (stripes n stars) • Gang Symbolism: Bloods (red) vs Crips (blue) • Republicans vs. Democrats (> "Democrips and Rebloodicans/ red state vs. blue state/ which one you governin'?" on Hood Politics (2015) - AND THE COLORS EVEN FUCKING MATCH IN THAT LINE) • bottom line: divide, fight between 2 opposing camps that simply cannot be united (opposing views: politics)/ reconciled (bad blood & pride: gangs) • >some BBC article claimed the stage is a tictactoe field, which yeah, I see why (big field with square-shaped compartments, circles and Xs, if you don't look close enough to notice the triangle and square) = also a game and a game that only two partys can play at that (analogy between red vs blue = x vs. o), as opposed to a playstation that could be a multiplayer game

"The revolution 'bout to be televised, you picked the right time, but the wrong guy" • Drake picked the wrong opponent • Trump was watching > political "revolution", atleast a heavy statement with a clear message: blackness (*I'mma get back to that for the record) • "the right time" as in everybody will see this performance, the whole country is watching The Great American Game right now and every single one will atleast hear about it online/ at work the next day • "the wrong guy" as in Kendrick is not just some Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, Usher type performer. He will try and make a point and not just give us a few hype songs

"No, no, no, no! Too loud, too reckless, too... ghetto! Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!" • first of all props on SLJ for delivery without cussing, because you know he wanted to! And it might've been even more impactful with cussing • "too ghetto": This is a black halftime show. All his people (I'll say his community) jumping out that one car (that has been the dream car of many people in Kendrick's life) and squabble up as a whole have been too ghetto, too black • "do you even know how to play": aka you're doing it wrong! this is not what you should be doing, you shouldn't act this black around here

HUMBLE. & DNA.: • obviously: the American flag, but it's divided. "America tried to make it a house divided" on i (2014) referring to the House Divided Lincoln speech. Paraphrased: "America is a house divided, which cannot continue to stand divided; it will fall. It has to become either this or that in order to be secure." Lincoln meant North vs South in the slavery conflict, Kendrick put his spin on it about the black community in i, meaning the culture itself is divided (through generational trauma, gang culture, internalized racism, etc). Today we can put that extra spin onto America and the 2 parties because the colors fit so well and the last election ain't too long ago. Plus everyone was fucking devastated = divide --- Now, does him standing in the middle mean he knows how to unite them? Or is it him standing in the middle on neutral ground?, like with the gangs? Kendrick himself has ties to certain gangs and friends in gangs (Top Dawg (from his former label TDE) was a blood, but Snoop Dog is associated with the crips), but has never officially claimed to belong to any of the two • divide between gangs: July 2024 pop out concert in LA. Kendrick brought different hoods and gangs onto the stage for that concert. For us it's just westside shenanigans, but people who grew up in that environment and who live in these parts knew exactly: "okay wow, he brought some people unto the stage together who normally cannot be seen in the same hood without shots getting fired". > reincarnated (2024): "I put 100 hoods on one stage/ I'm tryna push peace in LA" This obviously doesn't mean he "solved" gang violence, but for many higher ups in the gangs that was a sign of being able to find a common denominator within hating others (people especially in the hiphop scene who disrespect the westside and Drake and his camp in general). Call it United in Beef instead of United in Grief (2022) (y'all should really pay me at this point for the educomedy I give you For Free? (2015)).

Costumes (HUMBLE.): • Context: 2022 Half Time Show: black suits, blonde hair, "Dre Day"-Sashes. Everyone looked the exact same back then, so Kendrick would stand out more. It's him and then one intelligible mass as background dancers • individuality in unity (at least for the guys): they have different hairstyles (beanies, durags, braids, cornrows, fros, top fades, ...) It's Kendrick as the big star and then it's the culture. Every one of them looks a bit different, but they're unified by their colors and their clothes • female background dancers all look the same (all wear the same wig): I feel like that must've been intentional. Sth sth women being undermined in hiphop/the black community and especially in America rn • Kendrick's outfit: • Gloria on the front of the jacket: closing track on his latest album, tells story of how he fell in love with writing and lyricism > boasting "his pen's name" on his jacket as a way of priding himself with his lyrics and wit and knowing that that is mostly the reason people listen to him. We don't stick to Kendrick because of his fashion, his lifestyle, his instagram or sth like that. We heard of him because of his music and his storytelling and that is what we know and love him for - and he knows that as well • peakaboo (2024) on the sleeve: Song he performed in the x button of the game (I will also get back to that later on) • "Keep them away from me" backprint on his shirt: "don't lay your life in these weird n-words' hands" on tv off (2024): referring to every weird rapper/celeb in the industry right now (there's some other bar on GNX that fits, but I forgot what song it was on - I shall update if I find it) There's a video of Kendrick celebrating after the show in which he's not wearing the blue varsity jacket anymore so you can actually see the words on his back. • not a fan of the 68k Rahmaninov broche on his cap cause it's literally just a wing and you could have spend 68k better, but who am I, the man gives back all the time, let him have his stuff. There's other rappers who spend more on more atrocious shit

HUMBLE. & DNA significance: • Humble (2017) one of his biggest hits that everyone, who has ever heard of Kendrick through the mainstream (pre-May 2024 and not just through their friends), knows • DNA (2017) off the same album, deals with pride, confidence in blackness and upbringing, values: "I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA" (music video is Kendrick in cuffs being interrogated by a white officer > implications of racism as always), but in the end there's a beat switch, where he's out on the streets with his posse, so also blackness and hanging around outside type shenanigans can be associated with the song) • both songs are among his most played songs, especially off that album (probably also the most played album because mainstream), so that is his effort to make it more "party anthem"-y like all the other halftime shows. But he did say they chose the wrong guy for this. He won't give us maad city or Alright (again), he won't bust out Backseat Freestyle or N95 just for us to get hype, even if Uncle Sam might've hinted at that being the way to go about the Great American Game

bleachers: Warning Wrong Way • I could see the www alliteration meaning something too, idk • "warning within the game": aka hey, Sam told you not too be loud, reckless and ghetto and you continued with HUMBLE., DNA. and now euphoria - choose sth more... tame? > wrong way to play the game • or "warning outside of the game": keep doing your thing and don't switch it up now (don't become less ghetto because they told you to) wrong way to go about your blackness • or "warning about not starting to mention the beef": you better not play euphoria cause this is the Superbowl, why would you mention beef on here? That's unheard of > wrong way to deal with this platform • or "warning against Drake himself": you woke up the boogeyman and this is your warning to not make it worse than it already is right now. > Wrong way to handle your career (cause you lost the beef) and wrong rapper to challenge (cause kendrick is the boogeyman and you underestimated him)

euphoria: • why exactly that part? hype enough and pg enough probably, but with K.dot there's usually more to it. Making a point of how Drake sucks and in what ways he's different from him ("Oh you thought the money, power, fame would make you go away"-line?) • "have you ever hunt your enemy down with a pokerface": playing into the fact that kendrick never loses face. That man steps into the booth, does his thing, makes us marvel at it and goes home. Stays offline. You can't say shit that will make this guy record an aggravated insta story on the lies you've spread. As opposed to Drake who literally does the exact opposite on every level. And that mischievous smile into the camera in that moment - gold!

man at the garden: • makes me wanna cry • doesn't usually have this acapella theme, so the fact there's multiple male background singers supporting his flow to me is a brotherhood thing again • person chilling on the streetlamp as a call back to the Alright music video (2015) in which he flies through the streets and also chills on top of a streetlamp • vibing with the gang, everyone looks hood: like he's sitting at the corner store with his posse. typical black stereotype: troubled youth on the street who don't know anything but how to linger around • "keep these bums away from me" call back to the print on the back of that shirt he's wearing and the line on tv off I mentioned earlier • "did it with integrity, these boys tryna hate on me" applies to a lot (the beef, being offline all the time/ his long hiatus, the grammys), but lets apply it to the halftime show: critics say it was too black, heavy, symbolic and not party enough. he did it with integrity and now him making a clear and much needed statement isn't good enough for many critics • "I deserve it all, cause it's mine/ tell me why you deserve the greatest of all time, mf" (he said in an interview that that was the song off the album he wanted everyone to hear and really listen to and understand) > he deserves everything the last year has given him - Not Like Us being successful, being hailed as the Drakenslayer, dropping an acclaimed album, winning 5 Grammys and performing at the Superbowl

"Ohh, so you brought your homeboys with you? The old culture cheat code. Score-keeper, deduct one life!" • The "culture cheat code" = against the rules of the Great American Game • hanging around the corner on the street with the homies ("shit I'm with the homies, just riding, just ridin" The Art Of Peer Pressure (2012)) is the wrong way to play it. You should go to school, go home, do the work and be nice, calm and collected aka "white" • the culture cheat code: within the Game, we're aware of the discrepancy between certain, opposing camps. The culture cheatcode would be bringing your friends and unifying people so they stand as one and are ready to battle. If that is not allowed and gets you fined, that means you have to play the game on your own = you play against a bot, an end boss, an AI, whatever: an NPC that is the same for every game (as opposed to multiplayer where you can play against each other). That Game's end boss could be too hard to beat, everytime you try to beat the game (aka in every life you live - "reincarnated" > implying mulitple lifetimes- you lose against the Game's entity, because it's rigged and you're on your own against a boss you can't control or foresee (the industry, society, a construct, the monopoly) • "deducting 1 life" = taking one life? metaphore for gang violence, losing friends on the street just like that, because you played it wrong. Possible call back to FEAR. (2017): "I'll prolly die anonymous, I'll prolly die with promises/ I'll prolly die walkin' back home from the candy house/ I'll prolly die because these colors are standin' out/ I'll prolly die because I ain't know Demarcus was snitchin'/ I'll prolly die at these house parties - / I'll prolly die from witnesses leavin' me false accused/ I'll prolly die from thinkin' that me and your hood was cool/ Or maybe die from pressin' the line, actin' too extra/ Or maybe die because these smokers are more than desperate/ I'll prolly die from one of these bats and blue badges/ Body slammed on black and white paint, my bones snappin'/ Or maybe die from panic or die from bein' too lax/ Or die from waitin' on it, die 'cause I'm movin' too fast/ I'll prolly die tryna buy - at the apartments/ I'll prolly die tryna diffuse two homies arguin'/ I'll prolly die 'cause that's what you do when you're 17/ All worries in a hurry, I wish I controlled things"

>So many ways to die, because you went against the rules (playing the game on the street with your homies /being seen around the wrong people and falsely accused). This has been part of his life forever and part of his music since atleast fucking 2012 >"I done lost too many friends, 16 to be specific" wacced out murals (2024): could be friends in the industry being shady and turning away, or actually him mourning over "the dead homies" (2015)

peakaboo: • Now. Hold my hand cause shit is turbulent, okay? Get your tinheads out, I need you to follow me • 2018, rapper XXXTentacion dies in a shooting. Shooters still haven't been found to this day, although there were suspects. X was beefing with Drake at the time. Just a few months before his passing, X made the Helping Hand Challenge, where he basically told his fans to do something good (spread kindness, yada yada) in their environment and to post it, so he could see and repost it. Iirc, he also mentioned you should do nice things for strangers even if you don't end up posting it. Drake ripped off his challenge for the God's Plan music video (2018) and posted a similar challenge to his followers on Instagram as well, which X saw as a jab at him. The peakaboo sample in the beginning features the words "Helping Hand", which if you listen to the lyrics seems out of place, if you don't pin it to this theory • There are rumors about Drake having sent his shooters after X and basically ordering to kill him ALLEGEDLY. (We don't know shit, but Drake's name did come up in court; allegedly). If you've seen my previous "My Reasons To Hate Drake" post from May 2024 (which: y'all showed me so much love on this, thank you), then you'll know I already hinted at this even back then. (If you haven't seen it, but are interested in the beef: whatchu waiting for, dawg?) I'll spare you more details, because there IS more, but right now it's just important that you know that that's a theory that has been floating around ever since X died at 20 fucking years old. The boy was just as old as me writing this. During the beef it came up again because it's one more reason to hate Drake for and when people heard peakaboo, they spun the theory further. Kendrick had a rapper from the same area as X, Kodak Black, on his 2022 album and he apparently made some subliminal hints on the song Silent Hill. Peakaboo is also big on the whole "i got money and I got friends in the hood who will definitely gang bang and take someone out - so you better watch ya back" energy, which parodies Drake's songs shortly after X's passing, which obviously made people pipe up even more. Kendrick refers to and parodies a bunch of shit Drake said on his tracks in 2018 that can be linked to X • he performs peekaboo in the X button of the game. the X. for XXXTentacion. Shit is always intentional with this man, so for this to be a coincidence... idk man • saying "peekaboo" and him coming into frame from below is fucking hilarious • Kendrick performed the AzChike's verse (the rapper featuring on the song) and not his own, which made the rapper and his crew really happy.

"I wanna perform they favorite song, but you know they love to sue" • Drake has been tryna sue Kendrick over Not Like Us, but he doesn't want that to be the reason he doesn't play it. It's a whole can of worms I'll tackle some other post

SZA on luther and All The Stars • SZA in all red while Kendrick's wearing blue • SZA is going on tour with him, they've collabed since 2017 • SZA used to date Drake in like 2009 • All The Stars is part of the Black Panther soundtrack and one of his most acclaimed songs in the mainstream > that's why we get Uncle Sam's positive reaction • "fuck you and all your expectations/ I don't even want you congratulations. (...) Ion even like you" someone spinned that unto Drake because back when All The Stars came out, Kendrick won an award over Drake and he tried to play it cool and Kendrick was like "ugh wdym, just stfu, don't even act like you care"

"That's what I'm talking about, this is what America wants! Nice and calm. You're almost there! Now don't mess this-" • SZA as the mainstream entry for the halftime show, the things you'd expect/want on there • someone said "Oh yk sza was also there and she looked great, anyways then this happened" and I was like... she LOOKED great...? Have you HEARD her? Are you on drugs? She's out here doing her job, busting out the double string harmonies and you say "she looked pretty"? ugh. men. > That ties into it. They just hear the performance, but don't listen. They watch, but they don't look. That's why Samuel wanted that, because it's nice and calm and not dangerous. It doesn't say anything

Not Like Us edging: • "it's a cultural divide" > back to the divided point I made before • "40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music" ties into the line that comes up again and again on tpab: some civil war shit from 1865 (black history) where some families were freed and allotted 40 acres and a mule, so now it's become a saying for reparations to black people. Kendrick has been playing with this saying since 2015. Now it's bigger than just music. This is a black Superbowl Halftime show, he's making it bigger than just music, he's trying to give back to the community, trying to shed light on the culture that has been dominating the world's trends but is always overlooked, underappreciated and pushed aside in their own country • "they tried to rig the game but you can't fake influence": he's got the influence and he will use it the best he can for the things he finds important, even with someone trying to sue him over a song

NOT LIKE US: • "Say Drake" and smiling into the cam mischeviously • calling out the people (PARTYNEXTDOOR, chubbs, baka, Drake) • If you thought the Grammys "A Minor" was wild, you haven't heard the 5 Pop out concert "A Minors". If you thought those were as big as it gets, you haven't heard the whole Superbowl shout "A MINORRRRRR" yet • Serena Williams, tennis star in all blue (crip affiliations) crip walking on the side as her ex (back in 2011) gets called a pedophile is wild. She once got fined at a tennis match for crip-walking, so her doing it at the superbowl is a power move for her as well • Yes, they did indeed date, and drake started beef with another rapper (Common) over her after they broke up - (drake behavior, just look at him not being able to let go of Rihanna), and apparently talked shit on social media. some say he even stalked her, but that's YouTube comments, I don't have sources yet

TV OFF: MUSTAAAARD: • necklace: capital M for Mustard • but Kendrick's necklace is a lowercase a aka A MINORRRRRR • and if you put both of their necklaces together it says aM, like A MINORRRRRRRRRR • also Mustard reppin Cali fashion with his baggy jeans (BBC said they're "the baggiest jeans in the world", lol) • mustard yellow accents on his jacket cause it's Mustaaaaard! • why is he here? - giving mustard his flowers: This wouldn't have been possible without him. Mustard has been a renowned LA producer for years, but producers hardly get any recognition for their work (if you aren't Timbaland and have your own studio albums, multiple verses on other people's records you produced, you're bound to fly under the radar. Take MetroBoomin e.g. I've been listening to Metro's beats for years!, but I only found out what he looked like when I saw him live at Rolling Loud, only to forget again, until the beef kicked off last May and I saw more pics of him). Kendrick had Mustard in the Not Like Us music video and on stage for the pop out concert they had in LA in July (they played Not Like Us 5 times back to back, yall dont fucking get it). The Pop Out concert has even bigger implications for LA itself (refer back to "I put 100 hoods on one stage/ I'm tryna push peace in LA" on reincarnated), but just know that Not Like Us and in turn also Mustard who fucking made Not Like Us happen was a big part of that. Kendrick had him come up stage at the Grammys because again: those 5 grammys might've been a few less if it hadn't been for Mustard's typical LA production. This is a Westside anthem, just like TV Off, so of course Mustard must also join at the halftime show. Also aspeaking of the LA, Westside: a lot of lesser known LA rappers featured on gnx, because Kendrick wanted to give them a platform which is really sweet. At this point kendrick could've asked literally anyone for a feature. I'm sure 2Pac would spit some heat over an ouija board if he only could, but kendrick chose to support his people and the brobros from the hood

TURN THIS TV OFF: • smiles into cam, mimics remote and then Game Over flashes on the bleachers - YALL FUCK MAN, I CANT, I LOVE IT because the game is over, we can turn the tv and the playstation off now • What would've happened if we were to turn the TV off at that exact moment? We wouldn't have seen the rest of the game which... it was clear the eagles were gonna win because it was the first time a team had failed to score a single point before halftime (I know that doesn't mean anything, but still). So yeah, we wouldn't have seen the game's end. We wouldn't have seen the following commercials, so our thoughts would've been on the performance still. People usually watch the superbowls together, so turning your tv off could've resulted in some family quality time, best case scenario, we could've discussed the Halftime show more, gotten people's opinions and analysis (from the first watch ofc, thats usually not that deep)

MORE THOUGHTS: • breath control be crazy, HAVE YOU HEARD HIM RAP!? fucking goated. • this was for the culture. I see people not liking it because they don't get the cultural impact behind it, because they don't like heavy statements during their fun and games Halftime show, but this is just what it is: This was for the culture and it was much needed. We're gonna have to look past the "but there was no party anthem in that performance" (you clearly don't know anything about squabble up, HUMBLE., DNA., Not Like Us and TV Off, if you couldn't dance or get hype to that) "You picked the right time, but the wrong guy": he is not gonna put his principles past him and go into a whole different direction just to appeal the masses, just to get hype when that is not what he WANTS to do. • the bad game probably had many fans demotivated already, so the pre-requisits for the halftime show were perhaps a bit different from what they might have been if both team would've scored better

AND WITH THAT I'll let you rewatch this banger of a performance again. Lawd knows I was already on my 6th rewatch in the first 24 hours. Please comment about literally ANYTHING that comes to mind, hit me up about details, ask away if there's more to explain and please also school me if I'm wrong (but be nice about it!).

I love interacting with y'all on here, so yeah: gimme your thoughts, while I hide away after I literally forgot about this blog lmao

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s3znl-gr3znl · 2 hours ago

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state sanctioned revolution.

a while ago i made a post joking abt how americans are waiting for a booth with clipboards to sign up for the revolution, but now i have an actual term for it.

there's been lots of conversation around Kendrick's performance at the superbowl, and i cant lie, i really enjoyed it. After digesting it a little bit and listening to some other people, I do wonder about this performance being a state sanctioned revolution.

I wonder how this famous and historical moment will play out in history books. I wonder how Kendrick's message will be (or already has been) sanitized to deny how dire the situation is. Just like they do with MLK, Malcom X, and other revolutionary leaders.

Ghandi once said in a letter:

"But if the Jewish mind could be prepared for voluntary suffering, even the massacre I have imagined could be turned into a day of thanksgiving and joy[...]I am convinced that if someone with courage and vision can arise among them to lead them in non-violent action[...]They can add to their many contributions the surpassing contribution of non-violent action." - Ghandi and Zionism: 'The Jews' (1938)

Believing that, somehow, "civil resistance" was supposed to be the Jew's answer to the Holocaust so they could maintain a kind of moral high ground over Nazis, a strategy that ultimately failed and cost the jewish population millions of lives.

"The revolution will not be televised" because the revolution happens first in your mind, then in the streets. MLK, MX, Fred Hampton, and many other all came to the same conclusion that Ghandi failed to see: your oppresor will never allow you to overthrow them. No matter how nice and non-violent you are.

They will never allow you the means, materials, space, or permission to disrupt their power over you. It will never be "legal" to disrupt their control over those they wish to subjugate.

There will never be a state sanctioned revolution.

This should not dissaude us from action. Rather, it should encourage us to keep fighting for a better tomorrow for everybody.

Because no one is free until we are all free.

#fyi this is not a critique of Kendrick or his performance #it is a critique of the US and its systems of oppression #kendrick lamar #super bowl #fuck trump #trump #US #MLK #Malcomc X #fred hampton #black panther party #ghandi

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therockerfromspace · 4 years ago

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What the hell is going on with the Grammys - a massive master post.

Buckle up; this is a mess.

So as we all know, Grammy nominations came out on Tuesday. And... whew there’s a lot to unpack. So this master post is (hopefully) going to explain all the different strands of this.

A disclaimer before we start: this is in no way bashing the artists who have been nominated. I am sure they all work immensely hard and although they submit themselves, most of them have 0 say in the nominations process. For the love of God - we’re not going after any individual artist.

(also, just for clarity and conciseness: this post is going to focus on the “Big 4″ in terms of nominations - Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of The Year and Album of the Year).

So - Best New Artist. As a category I’m happy with all the nominees - the criteria is weird as hell though (basically you can just keep submitting yourself up to 3 times? and it doesn’t matter how far into your career you are? ok I guess). I’d love for Phoebe Bridgers or Megan Thee Stallion to take it personally, but I’m happy with all the nominees. It’d be nice to see Blackpink get an acknowledgement but they could end up getting nominated next year because of eligibility dates. So yeah, no major issues with Best New Artist.

Just to clarify before we move on - Wikipedia has better definition of the difference between SOTY and ROTY so I’m just going to paste it here:

Record of the Year is awarded for a single or for one track from an album. This award goes to the performing artist, the producer, recording engineer and/or mixer for that song. In this sense, "record" means a particular recorded song, not its composition or an album of songs.

Song of the Year is also awarded for a single or individual track, but the recipient of this award is the songwriter who actually wrote the lyrics and/or melodies to the song. "Song" in this context means the song as composed, not its recording

ROTY: Record of the year ... it’s very safe. Rockstar, Say So, Everything I Wanted, Don’t Start Now, Circles and Savage were all expected. The Black Pumas song is an outlier but normally there’s a couple of smaller songs on the nominees list so not a complete surprise. Black Parade is also a bit of a turnup - it’s a great song and obviously had some momentum this summer but wasn’t huge . I was surprised not to see The Weeknd in this category (more on that later); would have nice to see BTS on the list but again, not shocking.

SOTY: A mix? I guess? Most of it is overlap from ROTY - but there’s a few different songs in the way of Cardigan, I Can’t Breathe and If The World Was Ending. Personally, I’m really happy that Cardigan and I Can’t Breathe are in there - my personal favorite would be I Can’t Breathe Winning. “If The World Was Ending” ... was there I guess? So congratulations.

AOTY: Oh boy. AOTY is a mix. So the less surprising inclusions: Folklore and Future Nostalgia. I do genuinely believe it’s a tossup between those two now as to who wins AOTY - I’m going to give the edge to Taylor right now because she’s won it before for Fearless and 1989 but I’m not sure the Recording Academy would give it to her 1 in 4 years ish consistently. Then again, Taylor is a Grammys darling and 2nd highest Metacritic score of the nominations, so it wouldn’t shock me. I’m shocked HAIM are nominated in the best possible way (it’s my personal AOTY), but the rest ... I’m stunned by. Djesse Vol 3 is also great but I don’t think it has a shot; Chilombo was good but not brilliant, Black Pumas got in with a deluxe version (yes it’s a good album, but it’s going to be close to 2 years old by the time the Grammys roll round), I’m not a massive fan of Hollywood’s Bleeding but Post Malone’s commercial impact can’t be denied. Coldplay is the one I find most bizarre - it wasn’t a particularly good album nor did it stick around commercially. So yeah - it would nice for HAIM to take it (I think they have a shot of pulling a “Golden Hour” and taking it home) but I’d be shocked if it didn’t go to Taylor.

So. Yes, there were some snubs - I thought Harry Styles would get a SOTY nomination, I was also expecting BTS to sneak into a couple of categories; Phoebe deserved an AOTY nomination and Rina Sawayama deserved some recognition. However.

WHERE THE FUCK IS THE WEEKND?

The Weeknd not getting a single nomination. How? No matter which way you look at it, Blinding Lights, should be up for ROTY or at least in the Pop categories. OK, so After Hours isn’t going to be one of the all time great albums, but you can’t look at that list and think “hmm, yes; they’re all objectively better than After Hours.” Because they’re not. That’s a fact. The Weeknd has spoken out against the Grammys in the past (which I’ll come to in a minute), but the truth of the matter is is that the Grammys are institutionally biased. Let’s roll back to 2015. In 2016, the nominees for AOTY were 1989, Beauty Behind The Madness, Sound & Color, To Pimp a Butterfly and Traveler. Thinking about this in terms of critical success, the Grammy should have gone to Kendrick for “To Pimp A Butterfly”. It went to 1989. Ok, so 1989 is a great album! and commercially, was the biggest selling album that year. So from, that (and the following year, where 25 won over Lemonade) we could deduce that the Grammy focuses on the album that’s made the most commercial impact. HOWEVER: if we carry this logic into 2021, none of the nominees make any sense. Surely if they did, then only Folklore and Future Nostalgia would be on their. No matter how you look at it, After Hours straddled the line of being inescapable for a year and of getting great reviews. It should have been nominated for AOTY and that’s the bottom line of it.

So why wasn’t it?

Probably The Weeknd criticizing the Grammys previously didn’t help. But according to that bastion of news, TMZ, he was given the choice between performing at the Grammys or at Superbowl. The Weeknd negotiated, and agreed to do both. He was announced to be performing at the Superbowl on 12th November (link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54921206) . Grammy noms come out on the 24th, TMZ reports he was given the choice between Superbowl and Grammys about 8 hours after the nominations (https://www.tmz.com/2020/11/24/the-weeknd-ultimatum-grammys-super-bowl-performance-snub/) . Then, The Weeknd tweets this maybe an hour later (https://twitter.com/theweeknd/status/1331394452447870977). To add insult to injury, he went from being in “negotiations to perform” to no nominations. Now that’s a kick in the teeth.

A day later, the president of the Grammys, Harvey Mason Jr. does an interview with Variety (https://variety.com/2020/music/news/grammy-harvey-mason-weeknd-snub-show-1234839208/). Gives a load of non-answers as expected. But he does talk about the Grammy committee.

We don’t know much about how the Grammy voting process works. If you’re a member, you listen to the songs in the categories and then vote. BUT THEN. The top 20 songs/albums go to the committee. There’s 20 people on the committee - some with direct links to labels and artists. So they could hypothetically pick songs ranked 15-20 and nominate then. Which is why I think The Weeknd was majorly snubbed. I think The Weeknd got into the top 20 in all the categories he was nominated in and the committee overruled. That’s my theory anyway. The Grammys have been problematic for years - but since I’ve been following then from 2015ish - they’ve been accused racism (lack of BAME winners), sexism (remember the “well women should make better music” comments in 2018 https://variety.com/2018/music/news/grammys-so-male-women-recording-academy-president-neil-portnow-1202679902/) and then the mysterious ousting of Deborah Dugan at the start of last year (https://www.vox.com/2020/1/26/21082057/2020-grammys-sexual-harassment-corruption-recording-academy-deborah-dugan-rigged-nominations).

When Deborah Dugan was fired, she alleged sexual misconduct and voter corruption in the academy. (If I can find a copy of the original PDF I will, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/22/suspended-grammys-chief-deborah-dugan-alleges-sexual-misconduct-in-recording-academy). But honestly the article speaks for itself. The grammys are corrupt, and not a true measure of artistic integrity.

So, as much as I find them fascinating - let’s not give them any more weight then they deserve. If your fave has a nomination, great! If not, it doesn’t make them any less of an artist. 2020 has been a fabulous year for music, so let’s concentrate on that.

It’s impossible to cover every aspect of the Grammys in one tumblr post, and well done if you’ve made it to the end. If anyone has any questions, I’ll try and answer them to the best I can.

Thank you so much for reading! And Happy Thanksgiving, remember to donate to Native people today if you can - here’s a link to some places to donate https://twitter.com/MsKellyMHayes/status/1332000439378784261 !

#grammys #grammys 2021 #the weeknd #roty #soty #aoty #bna #blinding lights #after hours #recording academy #deborah dugan

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