John Legend had a blunt response to Diddy's commentary on how Black artists aren’t getting the recognition in top Grammy categories.
As part of July's issue of Entertainment Weekly, the piano man, 41, spoke about the Bad Boy CEO's viral remarks, which made their rounds in January. "It’s almost impossible for a Black artist to win Album of the Year," Legend declared. "How many years do we have to see Beyoncé snubbed? Kanye [West] has never won. It’s kind of insane…We’ve got to do something, because that’s a terrible record, and Diddy is right to complain about it."
Legend's frank approach comes after 11 wins to his name and a position on the Recording Academy's 40-member board of trustees. As noted by Billboard, of the 62 acts to have won Album of The Year, only 12 of them (otherwise 20%) are by Black artists as a lead artist.
"Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys. Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point that it should be. So right now in this current situation, it’s not a revelation,” Diddy said while accepting the Salute to Industry Icons Award at the Pre-Grammy Gala sponsored by Clive Davis and the Recording Academy. "This thing’s been going on. It’s not just going on in music. It’s going on in film, going on in sports and going on around the world. And for years we’ve allowed institutions that have never had our best interests at heart to judge us. And that stops right now."
"And I want to dedicate this award to Michael Jackson for Off the Wall, Prince for 1999, Beyoncé for Lemonade, Missy Elliott for The Real World, Snoop Dogg for Doggystyle, Kanye West for Graduation and Nas for Illmatic," he concluded.
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