Share FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinWhatsappTelegramEmail 3K Over the past week, we missed out on quite some essential stories due to both an upgrade and downtime on our website. This included the Grammy’s and all the funky red carpet theatrics. So let’s get to the chase, Puff Daddy took a stand, to hold the Academy (behind the grammys) accountable. A lot of you would know about this, but incase you don’t here is what happened before we get into our opinion. 50-year old Combs was receiving the Industry Icon Honor at Clive Davis’s annual pre-Grammy gala on Saturday. While accepting the award, he delivered a 45-minute speech that chronicled his entire career, starting from the pivotal moment he received a record player for Christmas at age 5. He then addressed the “elephant in the room,” calling for more diversity at the Grammys and challenging the Record Academy: “You’ve got 365 days to get this s*** together.” “I’m being honored by the industry that I love, the family that I love, but there’s an elephant in the room, and it’s not just about the Grammys,” Combs confessed to an A-list crowd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. “There’s discrimination and injustice everywhere all the time. But there’s something I need to say to the Grammys… I say this with love to the Grammys, because you really need to know this. Every year, y’all be killing us, man. I’m speaking for all the artists here, producers, executives. The amount of time that it takes to make these records, to pour your heart out into it — and you just want an even playing field. In the great words of Erykah Badu: ‘We are artists, and we are sensitive about our s***.’ We are passionate. For most of us, this is all we got. This is our only hope.” More Articles You Would Love See 5 Cute Twins In The African Fashion Industry Veens Clothing Presents ‘The Cynosure’ 2018 Collection Naomi Campbell also took her shot at the grammy’s blasting them for not recognizing Afrobeats as much as it should Here is a quote from her long disgruntled letter “Recently, the genre was categorized into your ‘World Music’ category at the 2020 Grammys. This misrepresentation diminishes an entire genre in which such a high standard of talent has emerged; a genre that has been a force of hope and positivity for many, and a vehicle for artistry on the continent of Africa. • Please take the next 363 days to reassess and reflect on your perspective of ‘World Music.’ Did the world get to vote for this award, or was it only the people in the United States a part of The Recording Academy? What will this neglectful categorization of music mean to individual cultures? Cultures who contribute their blood, sweat and tears, and every level of their creativity and work ethic into making music for YOU and for all of us. •” She also warned them they have 363 days to fix up. BEFORE I AXE THEM, LET’S ACKNOWLEDGE MY GRATITUDE FOR THESE GREAT STARS Now before I come hard on the two, let’s not lie, these are valuable messages. There are heroic stance that once upon a time we all wish celebrities will come out and say but were too chicken to. Naomi, whose origins are in the Carribean has done almost more than anyone in the western fashion world when it comes to standing up for our continent, Shes not the worlds greatest black anything, shes the worlds greatest model and fashion icon period. And P Diddy. I’ve grown up to him from him rapping with Supercat to him shouting in the back at G Deps music. If I really decided to go out about these two I could write for a month. But here comes the axe. Standing up for your people will always be amazing, and we can only thank you for that, but today is a new day, the goal post has moved. This is something you guys should have said in the 90s! We are in 2020! Moguls like Sean Puffy Combs and Naomi Campbell do not have the right to sit and complain about the Grammy’s or what white people think or do for us. They are too big for that, it is even somewhat pathetic to see it. These guys, based on their popularity could easily replace the grammys in 15 seconds if they wished to, yet here they are talking about 360 something days. It is almost somewhat like that picture of a horse that thinks it can’t move because it’s tied to the leg of a plastic chair. One award event started by Naomi and Sean Puffy Combs, or even either one of them will outdo the grammy’s despite the event’s years of exploiting black American talent to put white creatives at the top. Yet here we are, after breaking grounds of being international stars, being millionaires, being moguls, going to their podium (in this case, the white mans podium) and asking them how to treat us, how to respect us, how to recognize us, at this level of black excellence is the most pathetic thing to watch…..TO ME. If I were the white staff centered around the academy, I to will disregard the culture, even after their millions they still aren’t able to create their own award entity, even after their millions, even after their popularity, even after their hundreds of business, they still come to us to decide who has been a good boy or a bad girl. These stars don’t even need to create a black type of awards, they have the power to create an international base and even involve country music, and gospel, and rap, and rock, and heavy metal and take it upon themselves to reflect black music in the best way across all other platforms. In fact, I am making P Diddy and Naomi Campbell accountable for this, and I am giving them 200 days to come up with an award event (not to even rival the grammys, but) one that can really make us not care whats going on on the grammys. And you can start it from scratch, or you can find a black owned one, and breath life and money into it via partnership and be board members! But for now, P Diddy, Naomi, Will Smith, Jada Pinkette, no more complaining about how whites will not recognize you! On behalf of the black community we are officially starting the clock, you guys have 200 days to get that ish together! Beyond this day any black celebrity that complains about how whites award us should have tomatoes thrown and him or her with loud boos! Share FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinWhatsappTelegramEmail Nana Tamakloe Founder of FashionGHANA.com and Accra Fashion Week. I'm grateful you visited, I hope you share, subscribe and share your comments or opinions below. 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