Twenty-Something Year Old Journalist

Let me be more precise. I do not care if you think Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter didn’t deserve the Grammy for Best Country Album or if Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show wasn’t to your liking. 

I think (it’s my turn now), as an upper-middle-class, Southern California-living Ashkenazi Jew, when it comes to these two groundbreaking artists, it’s not about personal preference—it’s about something deeper. The reactions that arose from Beyoncé’s win and Lamar’s performance aren’t just reflections of musical taste. They are a reflection of the internalized bias, racism, and misogyny that continues to plague this country. 

Never in my twenty-three years of life have I ever had to entertain so many conversations about the Grammys’ Best Country Album award. I do not like country music, I do not listen to country music, I could not tell you one thing about any current country music star, and I can’t tell you who was up against Beyoncé in that category. I think to varying degrees many are in the same boat as I. 

So why, then, when the first Black artist wins Best Country Album at the Grammys (notice how I didn’t say first Black woman), everyone is all of the sudden a country music expert and enthusiast ready to defend their sacred Best Country Album category from those they deem unworthy? 

If one was to take the opportunity to really listen to Cowboy Carter and familiarize themselves with Beyoncé’s prior country roots, it is clear that Cowboy Carter is not an attempt to simply try out a different genre, but rather a meticulously, well-researched and well-executed album that honors and recognizes Black artist’s contribution to country music, yet their erasure from that country music history and recognition. 

Black artists have long been ostracized and shut out of the country music genre, including Beyoncé herself. Cowboy Carter explores a world where Black artists were never unwelcomed in the country music genre and opens the door for past country music stars to get their rightful recognition while providing a more inclusive path forward.

And isn’t that what country music is all about? Being honest, truthful, and authentic? At the same time, though, isn’t that what all art is about? Telling a story, evoking an emotion, making a statement, pushing boundaries? 

It’s the same argument when it comes to Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance. Lamar has always been an artist that uses his art and talent to educate and evoke powerful emotions. 

The people who found the Super Bowl halftime show unappealing or uninteresting must not know who Kendrick Lamar is. 

This is the same Kendrick Lamar who’s 2016 Grammy performance has been attempted to be wiped from the Internet, deemed as “too controversial” and “provocative” due to his addressment of injustice and systemic racism through his performance. 

This is also the same Kendrick Lamar who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album DAMN., an album that intricately captures the complexity of modern African-American life, becoming the first musician outside of classical or jazz to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. 

Just a week before his halftime performance Kendrick had won the Grammy for Song of the Year and Record of the Year for “Not Like Us,” a diss track with an upbeat tempo and catchy lyrics to sing along to, and faced no criticism or questioning over these wins. 

Cut-to a mere seven days later, and somehow Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance has left many with mixed feelings. 

Why? 

Why when one of the greatest storytellers provides us with an artful perspective of life as a Black American and their place within U.S. history, a piece of art that encourages you and forces you to think and confront your own biases, it is deemed as uninteresting or hard to follow?

This is exactly why his halftime performance is so impactful and so important. So much symbolism and effective messaging was present in his performance. Political references, Black history, references to political movements, and an acknowledgement about the times we live in currently. 

Kendrick Lamar’s performance and Beyoncé’s win is more important than ever. In a time when racism and bias run rampant, when history is attempting to be rewritten, when a felon is elected president over a qualified Black and Indian woman, when hate is no longer going unpunished, we need people like Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar to continue pushing boundaries, making people confront their biases, and educating the public on real history and the real, Black experience. 

If you found issue with Cowboy Carter’s win or with the Super Bowl halftime show, I invite you to give them another try with a more open and understanding perspective. And if you just so happen to have a change of heart towards these pieces of art, please keep it to yourself—these Cowboy Carter tickets are already hard enough to get ahold of as is.