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Macklemore: "You got robbed, I wanted you to win. You should have. It's

weird and sucks that I robbed you."

Russell Simmons: "Kendrick is absolutely a better rapper, and Macklemore

had one of the most inspiring, socially conscious songs of the year and that is

what did well for him.”

Kendrick Lamar: [Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' Grammy wins were] "well

deserved. He did what he did, man. He went out there and hustled and

grinded."

MY FIVE BIG TAKEAWAYS OF THE 2014 GRAMMYS – 1-29-2014 1-29-2014 - Written By: David L. $Money Train$ Watts – Journalist/Film Reviewer

FuTurXTV & HHBMedia.com - David Velo Stewart – Editor – HHBMedia.com

First, what does Macklemore’s 2014 Grammy win for Best Rap Album over Kendrick

Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city” mean to Hip-Hop? I have to phrase it like this because

the traditional Hip-Hop Industry gurus, tastemakers, MCs, record execs, DJ, bloggers,

journalists all have come to the conclusion that Macklemore sucks and Kendrick Lamar

should have been a multiple Grammy winner. Even Macklemore has been very humble

and contrite over his expected Grammy wins [Best New Artist, Best Rap Performance

and Best Rap Song] when he said in a post Grammy interview on New York’s Hot 97:

“First and foremost, Kendrick [Lamar] is a friend of mine. He’s somebody that I

love his music and, in my opinion, had the best Rap album of the year. And knowing

how the Grammys usually go, I knew that there would be a great chance that we’d

win that award and, in essence, rob Kendrick. That’s what happened tonight. It

kind of sucks. I think we made a great album. I think that Kendrick made a better

Rap album.”…Macklemore

David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • info@hhbmedia.com • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart

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And Macklemore kept dissing his Grammy wins in that same Hot 97 interview. He told

the pissed of Hip-Hop heads that he could not help it that the Grammy voters were out

of touch, did not really know the Hip-Hop genre and probably voted for him because he

was white. How noble and introspective of Macklemore seemed when he humbly said:

“In terms of the people that are voting on those ballots, filling out those bubbles, we

have an unfair advantage due to race, due to the fact we had huge radio success, due

to the fact that our name was circulating more in a pocket in the industry of people

filling out that ballot,” he said. "This is not like a Rap Radar poll, like a 2DopeBoyz

poll. This is not a Hot 97 poll. This is the Grammys. This is many different types of

people. All different age groups filling out a ballot where they might not necessarily

know the genre.”…Macklemore

But the real social media hatred over Macklemore and Ryan Lewis also winning Best

New Artist, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song is because we are finally at a

turning point in Hip-Hop that cannot be reversed. The early 1990’s was battle with the

afro-centric political Hip-Hop of Public Enemy, Brand Nubian; Pop-Hip-Hop like MC

Hammer, Vanilla Ice and Beastie Boys and the Gangsta Rap movement of NWA, Snoop

Dogg, Biggie, Tupac and Dr. Dre. By the end of the 90’s we had lost two Hip-Hop icons

in Tupac and Biggie to gun violence. Gangsta Rap had clearly won because Hammer,

Vanilla Ice and Public Enemy were in retirement. And the Beastie Boys had transitioned

into an alternative rock group. From 2000 to 2010 I would call the Bling Era in Hip-Hop

with emergence and dominance of rappers and rap songs who primarily spit about

bitches, money and power. During the Bling Era even Three 6 Mafia won an actual

Oscar for Best Original Song for “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp” from Hustle & Flow. I

wonder if we could go to a few McDonalds and track down all those Bling Era rappers

that used to be featured on loop on BET Uncut. When they got a break from frying

burgers and mopping down the rest rooms I would ask them why they can’t get their

simple “stripper club” music videos played on BET anymore. But what followed after the

election of the U.S.A.’s first African-American President in Barack Obama, the crash of

Wall Street, Occupy Movement, 1% vs. 99% clashes and the Arab Spring; caused us to

jump from the Bling Era to the Conscious Capitalism Era of Hip-Hop. And my definition

of Conscious Capitalism in Hip-Hop are highly profitable rap songs and rap albums that

are focused on the real social, economic, political, environmental, social justice issues

effecting everyone. Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars’s unconventional anti-bling rap song

“Billionaire” is the very definition of new Conscious Capitalism Hip-Hop. “Billionaire” has

catchy hooks and lyrics about one selflessly giving one’s riches back to ordinary people

as opposed to bragging about how rich one is and how much meaningless materialistic

crap they own until the IRS, the bank or their record label takes it back. So it is only

fitting that Macklemore’s “Same Love” is and would have been highly Grammy pleasing

Conscious Capitalism Era type rap song that praises LBGT lifestyles, marriage equality

and declares it matters most in life who you love than who society says you can love.

David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • info@hhbmedia.com • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart

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“And yeah I'll be in a whole new tax racket

We in recession but let me take a crack at it

I'll probably take whatever's left and just split it up

So everybody that I love can have a couple bucks

And not a single tummy around me would know what hungry was

Eating good, sleeping soundly

I know we all have a similar dream

Go in your pocket, pull out your wallet

And put it in the air and sing”…”Billionaire” by Travie McCoy...3/9/2010

If I was a hardcore Hip-Hop Head still mentally living in the Bling or Gangsta Rap Era

then hearing Macklemore’s “Same Love” lyrics like, “If I was gay, I would think hip-hop

hates me”, you would get violently ill, so angry you can’t speak and want to throw up.

“If I was gay, I would think hip-hop hates me

Have you read the YouTube comments lately?

"Man, that's gay" gets dropped on the daily

We become so numb to what we're saying

A culture founded from oppression

Yet we don't have acceptance for 'em

Call each other faggots behind the keys of a message board

A word rooted in hate, yet our genre still ignores it

Gay is synonymous with the lesser

It's the same hate that's caused wars from religion

Gender to skin color, the complexion of your pigment

The same fight that led people to walk outs and sit ins

It's human rights for everybody, there is no difference!

Live on and be yourself”…”Same Love” by Macklemore…7/18/2012

Too many years rappers got away with calling each other faggots and dissing each

other by saying they were weak, gay, a punk is gay or “No Homo”. I doubt multi-million

Samsung backed Jay Z deals and Kayne West fighting with paparazzi about your reality

star baby mama and launching a Confederate flag clothing line are going to ever help

Jay Z or Kanye win a Grammy anytime soon. If you stand for nothing in Hip-Hop and

say nothing of substance, then stop expecting to win Grammys and just be happy with

getting BET Awards and BET Hip-Hop Awards. The link below is to a recent Spin.com

article that really go out of its way to hate on Macklemore. Just read it and you will

easily see how Hip-Hop artists in the Conscious Capitalism Era have to evolve beyond

hoping and praying raps songs about bitches, money and bling are gonna come back

and be acceptable with all the serious issues going on now in the world. If they refuse to

change then next year Macklemore’s socially conscious album will win more Grammys.

http://www.spin.com/articles/grammys-macklemore-kendrick-lamar-same-love?sailthru_position=4

David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • info@hhbmedia.com • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart

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Second, Beyonce and Jay-Z in my opinion embarrassed themselves to no good with

their performance of “Drunk in Love” on the Grammys. I could barely understand what

Beyonce was singing about or Jay Z was rapping about. And maybe my full attention

was locked on Beyonce’s skimpy outfit and her shapely body and booty shaking. But to

me Beyonce’s stripper themed gyrations always make sense or seem classy when they

are presented in a highly choreographed routine—like when she does “Single Ladies”.

This time I felt Beyonce was trying to show Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga that she was

not too old to be sexy, act sexy or reestablish that she is the “Queen of Music Award

Show Sexiness”. And what was up with Jay Z grabbing or caressing Beyonce’s booty

like he had never seen it before that night. Also, I was bit stunned and did a double take

when I heard Jay Z spit out his verse of “In '97 I bite, I'm Ike, Turner, turn up Baby no

I don't play, now eat the cake, Anna Mae Said, "Eat the cake, Anna Mae!" Now why

would one of the most successful entertainment couples in the “Music Biz” that gets to

regularly hang out with the Obamas, not drop a positive reference to that power couple?

No! Jay Z brings up Ike Turner like he was happily endorsing and excusing spousal

abuse in What’s Love Got to Do with It when Ike angrily smashed a cake in Tina’s

face. Beyonce has to know better even if Jay Z still wants to keep his thug-rep intact.

I wish Beyonce and Jay Z could have been more memorable on stage than trying to be

the most shocking couple and the most Tweeted about performers at the Grammys.

And when you compare Beyonce’s exploitative opening Grammy number with Pink

doing her high flying rendition of her song “Try”, then you see that Pink was wearing the

same skimpy, sexy outfit as Beyonce but it was not at all distracting to her graceful

aerial performance. Pink then did some gymnastic dancing before covering up her body

with a skirt to then sing “Just Give Me a Reason” with Fun’s Nate Ruess. Pink showed

her true peacock colors in the air and on stage with grace, dignity and vocal dominance.

David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • info@hhbmedia.com • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart

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Lorde is the new anti-Katy Perry. I am confident that Lorde had a great time partying at

LA nightclubs on Grammy night because Lorde looked so old no bouncer would believe

she was less than 25 or older. She had so much dark finger paint, black eye liner and

caked on white face powder that I wondered while she was doing her remixed version of

“Royal” would the cast of the Adams Family or the Munsters join her on stage. I can

see how Katy Perry tried to preempt Lorde’s dark and somber set with her own black,

foggy and spooky routine, but she is poor Pop label backed substitute to the real Goth

anti-materialism look oozing from Lorde. I would say Lorde is the anti-Taylor Swift but

that is too dead on a comparison. Lorde and Katy Perry will be battling it out for years to

come. Lorde is a true talent and all the Twitter buzz over whether she sort of lip-synced

“Royals” on the Grammys I guess could have been avoided if she had been less twitchy

and weird. But I did like Katy trying to enhance her dance moves and her neon cross.

4. Fourth, The most interesting group performances were Pharrell Williams, Daft Punk,

Stevie Wonder and Nile Rogers, Robin Thicke and Chicago Kendrick Lamar and

Imagine Dragons. As I watched the Grammys these three superb performances stood

out from the rest of the predictable old plays with new artists’ sets. I wonder if Kendrick

had released this rock-rap mash-up with Imagine Dragons would it have won a Grammy

for Best Rock Song? I also thought when Robin Thicke and Chicago did his “Blurred

Lines” if Pharrell would pop up on stage and join in the fun. I do think that one of the

major reasons that Macklemore had to quickly adopt a desperate Twitter PR campaign

after the Grammys about how he robbed Kendrick was because of the awesome way

he threw down with Imagine Dragons. Although many of the Rap awards were given

during the pre-telecast, I think Kendrick has impressed so many Grammy voters that the

next time they will give him an award. And I liked how Stevie Wonder fit in smoothly with

Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” set, but I still think the Daft should have shown their real faces.

David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • info@hhbmedia.com • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart

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5. Finally, my last takeaway from the 56th Grammys was that Target and Pepsi Cola had

the best ads during the night. I gotta give credit for Target and sometimes Walmart for

creating creative and fun ad campaigns that promote people still going to a retail outlet

and purchasing a physical CD. All of Target’s commercials for Shakira, Janelle Monae,

Justin Timberlake, Band Perry and Prince Royce were all giving bonus songs. And

those bonus tracks are only on the CDs sold at Target. But I really wonder how much

longer this type of old skool marketing will appeal to Millennials who are so used to now

to streaming or buying only digital copies. And I am sure even the savvy tech teens

know how to download the Target bonus tracks from YouTube or other MP3 sources.

And Pepsi-Cola definitely open up their piggy bank and went all out on their very funny

pre-Super Bowl Halftime commercial with a singing Terry Bradshaw and Deon Sanders

singing, a rapping Shannon Sharpe and Michael Oher as the DJ. And I liked the finale

with Mike Dikta clowning Miley Cyrus as he rode a wrecking ball. The spot was way

over the top and really stood out from the Grammy’s other safe, corny and polished ads,

David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • info@hhbmedia.com • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart