Even though J. Prince, Damon Dash, and Kanye don’t believe winning Grammy awards should matter to artists in the Hip-Hop community, there are still those who value the golden gramophone trophies.
One example is Nas’ producer, Hit-boy, who has won three out of his nine nominations for producing for artists like Jay-Z, Ye, Nipsey Hussle, and Nas.
During a recent interview with ABC News, Hit-boy was asked if he believed the Grammys still matter, especially considering some of his peers talking about canceling it and Kanye, one of his friends, being disinvited because of his erratic behavior.
Hit-boy said, “It’s a little extra stamp of all the hard work you put in. You don’t just get one of these by just playing around. You have to be at the top of the top. It’s like the NBA Finals or the Super Bowl.
“It’s that extra piece of motivation to know you’re doing the right thing musically,” he said. “The nominations alone. But winning with Nipsey, winning with Nas, I have real meaningful Grammys. Kanye West and Jay-Z. I didn’t win by just playing around. I made some records that will stand the test of time.”
J. Prince has called for a boycott of the award show and plans to do an alternative concert.
As reported by AllHipHop.com, J Prince blasted the ceremony saying it has a “slave master” mentality around it, and called for artists to stand in solidarity against The Recording Academy.
“I’ve been watching the Grammys control and dictate our culture to their benefit up close and personal for the past 30 years,” J Prince said. “And all the artists, managers, and executives would do is complain, but never have the nuts to come together to do anything about it.”
“This is a slave master, punish a n#### mentality and act to remind us that no matter how much money we have, we’re still n##### in their eyes,” J Prince continued.
“I recommend that the artists I mentioned above—and more—come together in Las Vegas and perform at the same time as the Grammys on a special network and streaming platform to prove that ratings will change where the Grammys are concerned when the No. 1 selling genre in music—hip-hop—come together,” he said. “Because there’s power in numbers.”
He then concluded, “The powers that be will be mad at me about this one. But f### ’em! I love the culture. The seed has been planted; let’s water it.”