Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is not up for holding back about much these days — especially music!
The producer and artist delivered a nearly hour-long speech this weekend at the annual pre-Grammy party hosted by Clive Davis on Saturday night, and didn’t hold back when it came time to call out the Recording Academy.
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Pointing out that those in charge of the Grammys “work for us,” Diddy drew quite a bit of applause and support throughout his 50-minute long speech, according to reports from inside the room via Deadline.
At one point, after being given an icon award at Davis’ party that night, Diddy opined in his speech about past treatment at the hands of the Recording Academy, telling the audience (below):
“I have to be honest. The last few days I’ve been conflicted. I’m being honored by this industry I love, this family that I love, but there’s an elephant in the room and it’s not just about the Grammys. This is discrimination and injustice everywhere at an all-time high. But there’s something I need to say to the Grammys and I changed my middle name to love, so it’s Sean Love Combs now… 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 talking about the pain. I’m speaking for all the artists here, producers and executives — the amount of time to make these records, to pour your heart out into it… in the great words of Erykah Badu, ‘We are artists and we’re sensitive about our s**t. We are passionate.’”
Nice, and well said!
But that was only the warm-up, so to speak.
Minutes later, Diddy — er, ‘Love’ — doubled down on the Academy with some very specific complaints about the entire process surrounding the Grammys.
The music mogul said:
“For most of us, this is all we’ve got. It’s our only hope. Truth be told hip hop has never been respected by the Grammys. Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point that it should be. So, right now, in this current situation, it’s not a revelation. This thing been going on and it’s not just going on in music. It’s going on in film. It’s going on in sports, It’s going on around the world. And for years, we’ve allowed institutions, that have never had our best interest at heart, to judge us. And that stops right now. Y’all got 365 days to get this s**t together… We need the artists to take back control. We need transparency. We need diversity. This is the room that has the power to make the change. It needs to be made. They have to make the changes for us. They’re a nonprofit organization that’s supposed to protect the welfare of the musical community. That’s what it says on the mission statement. That’s the truth. They work for us.”
Whoa!! Now THAT is powerful stuff, and it was good enough to earn the producer and artist a standing ovation from the entire room at Davis’ party!
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What do U think, though, Perezcious readers?! Is he right?? Sound OFF about everything with your opinions in the comments (below)!!!
[Image via WENN]
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