Earlier this year, The Brit Awards came under fire after their complete disregard for the rich and diverse music scene in Britain when there was nary a non-white person who won an award, let alone among the nominees. Rather, all the accolades went to white musicians who it must be mentioned, regularly cite artists of colour as some of their biggest influences. Further than that, the Brit awards failed to recognise grime, a genre founded in England, in any way at all despite its near immeasurable resurgence in popularity both at home and overseas over the past year. Now in a refreshing turn of events, a different awards ceremony has recognised one of the artists responsible for that resurgence.
Skepta, along with producer Ragz Originale, has been nominated for the Ivor Novello Award for best contemporary record for what has essentially been the anthem of the last twelve months: Shutdown. This nomination is the first the genre has received since Dizzee Rascal was given an Inspiration award in 2010 and pits Shutdown against Snakehips‘ All My Friends and Roots Manuva’s Cargo. Commentators have been quick to note that Adele, who had a major hit in Hello towards the end of 2015 (and which she has already won a Brit award for), is missing from the list, but Paul Gambaccini, who had presented the songwriting awards for almost three decades, said that the difference between the Ivor Novellos and other awards ceremonies (like the Brits), was that they didn’t have to bow to pressure from record companies who invest in large sums in order to ensure that certain artists nominated.
He added to his comments, saying that, “I think it’s important for that community to know they are being listened to. It’s important that all genres are represented, and that artists know their work is taken seriously, no matter what type of music they write. I’m certain someone like Skepta will take the Ivors more seriously because they know it’s about quality.”
Image: The Guardian