Cepeda, Raquel. “Do the Grammys Have a Race Problem?” RollingStone.com. RollingStone, 05 February 2015. web. 03 August 2015.
The media has always portrayed double standards when it comes to race whether it be music awards or casting roles for movies the dilemma is present in all types of media outlets. In the article, “Do the Grammys Have a Race Problem?”, journalist for RollingStone magazine, Raquel Cepeda writes about the racism surrounding the Grammy awards. Cepeda writes on the issue of the white supremacy and double standards in the 2014 Grammy nominations which is related to my topic on double standards between colored and white artists in the media.
RollingStone Magazine has been around since 1967 and focuses on popular culture. The magazine can go from politics to pop culture, but it is mainly known for its music coverage. RollingStone focuses on the youth but it could be for the older generation considering it is a mixture of different coverage. Raquel Cepeda is an award winning journalist and culture activist who has an inside on culture aspects which makes her creditable for this racial topic. She is from Dominican parents and has written a book called Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina which is about what it’s like being a Latina today. Cepeda is well educated in cultural issues making her article in RollingStone creditable and insightful to my topic.
Cepeda describes how the 2014 Grammy nominations are mostly, if not all, are white artists. She explains how the rap/hip-hop categorizes are a third white artists, which is very ironic, when she states ” Expect the Grammys to get it wrong, at least in those few categories artists of color are expected to reign in….”. Cepeda does not hold back on the flat-out racism the grammys display by writing “On what planet did voters with the most basic knowledge of hip-hop culture and rap music think when Macklemore beat out Lamar for Best New Artist last year?” Cepeda argues that it is outrageous for a white rapper like Macklemore to be the winner of a Grammy in a rap category, which only emphasizes the double standards with race in the music industry. The world of music and media has its dark sides, but racism is one that mostly is pushed under the covers, when Cepeda describes the success of Iggy Azalea’s, a white Australian rapper. ” Her act is an inauthentic recreation of urban life that ridicules it, music’s answer to revanchist gentrification, one that desecrates the culture and the people who Azalea claims to have been inspired by.” argues Cepeda describing how Azalea’s culture appropriation is not seen as an act of racism but culture “inspired”. Cepeda is pointing out how the Grammys are white-washed and are a double standard between white and colored artists.
This article is very opinionated and I think that the author does make some valid points. But I do feel like she is a bit biased in terms of white rappers like Macklemore and Iggy Azalea taking over. She excludes Eminem from the race problem in the Grammys, although he is a white rapper. I feel like maybe the author’s opinions are coming more from a place of what she believes is good music and a bit less from a place of racial equality. Although I do agree with what she says about Iggy Azalea and her cultural appropriation of rap.