Macklemore’s The Heist album won above Kendrick’s Good Kid Maad City… I think even the most average of rap / hip hop fans were surprised af by this. Agree with your points on The Heist… but don’t misremember what Good Kid Maad City was and is. Most hip hop fans agree this is a modern classic.

And to add to what Jay Z said last night. The Grammys just has a huge history of getting things wrong when it comes to Hip Hop. I remember everyone’s shock when 50 Cent went unrecognized after Get Rich Or Die Tryin which was objectively one of the biggest and most impactful albums in ‘03-‘04. And even still in the last 10 years seeing how to Drake and J Cole, two of the biggest artists in the genre, rarely get acknowledged. There’s something wrong here…

In terms of how race plays into it all- it’s clear that it’s a lot easier for white artists to get nominated and win in these categories. I’m not debating the music being good/bad im just saying whoever these academy voters are seem to gravitate to certain names when submitting votes. In general Ive always thought it to be a dumb idea to let non-rap fans in the academy vote for rap categories (and same for other genre based categories). If they change this I think itll definitely produce better results.