John Legend Regrets That Black Musicians Can't Get Grammys

John Legend (Instagram @johnlegend)

JAKARTA - The issue of Black Lives Matter is still reverberating today. After George Floyd's tragic departure, talk of racism in life continued, including in the music industry.

Reporting from NME, Wednesday, July 15, famous singer John Legend conducted an interview with Entertainment Weekly. He said it was impossible and difficult for black artists to win awards in the major Grammy categories.

The four general categories at the Grammys are Best Album, Best Record, Best Song, and Best Artist. Previously, rapper Diddy had mentioned black music did not have a good presentation at awards, including the Grammys.

“How many years can we see Beyonce being rigged? Kanye West never wins. This is crazy ... we have to do something, "replied the singer of All of Me.

Furthermore, John Legend also agreed with what Diddy complained about the current music industry. Judging by the list of winners, the Grammys only have 20 percent black winners. The last major Grammy award won by black musicians was musician Herbie Hancock in 2008. The issue of racism is often mentioned every time a Grammy holds its event.

In 2017, NPR said musicians like Beyonce and Chance the Rapper were only a few musicians who managed to win general awards compared to other black musicians who lost to non-black musicians.

In fact, if you examine it, many black musicians have shown great performances, even more so in terms of music. Unfortunately, the Grammys don't pay much attention to this. John Legend himself has 31 nominations from the Grammy Awards where he only won 7 categories.

He only ever got the Best Song category with Ordinary People, while the others were nominated for segments such as R&B and Rap. Until now, Grammy has not opened its voice regarding the issue of racism in its nomination selection.

On the other hand, John Legend has just released the Bigger Love album with the latest song of the same name. In this album, Legend collaborated with Jhené Aiko, Koffee, Rapsody and Camper.