Grammy Family Week ’19 | Best Gospel Song & Best Rap Song
So happy to be back with my GRAMMY Fam! We’ve been slacking with the Genius content and promise to do better in 2019. I love this time of year and no matter how much we declare that the GRAMMYs don’t matter, let’s keep it real — they do.
As Dayo mentioned, predicted winners in bold. All song titles linked to Spotify.
I’m fresh off of a weekend of debauchery and microdosing at a hippie ass festival in the Thai mountains so what better time to listen to some Gospel? I’m gonna sound like I’m straight hatin’ on this entire genre and that’s because I am which is exactly why Dayo assigned it to me. No matter what my Instagram may lead you to believe, I actually grew up in the Baptist church and (shocker) hated every second of it *except* the music. How could you not love hearing wise aunties sing their hearts out? It’s pretty much just the content matter that grinds my gears.
BEST GOSPEL SONG
For reference, here are the deets: “This award is given to the artist(s) and songwriter(s) for the best traditional Christian, roots gospel or contemporary gospel single or track.”
You Will Win — Jekalyn Carr (Songwriters: Allen Carr & Jekalyn Carr)
Bro…the song hasn’t even started, but I can confidently say that there’s no reason for this shit to be 8 minutes long. “The enemy came up against your finances” — girl, PREACH. She keeps referencing the “enemy” and I’m gonna just go ahead and assume that she means Nigerian men (#sorrynotsorry, Dayo).
“Everything attached to me wins.” I fucks with the sentiment, I do, but…next.
Won’t He Do It — Koryn Hawthorne
Love that the cover art for this track is Green Leaf, every black mom’s fave church novella. Her voice is dope and this is a bit of bop. Kudos to Karyn for making the track sound “modern”; this could def be on the radio. I’m actually jammin’ in bed right now so shout out to the producers. This is undoubtedly my personal fave.
Never Alone — Tori Kelly & Kirk Franklin (Songwriters: Kirk Franklin & Victoria Kelly)
Yo, I never would have thought that these two would have a song together, but here for itttt. I actually wouldn’t be mad if this popped up on Discover Weekly (but let’s be real, Spotify knows better). Without Kirk Franklin & the choir on the track I probably wouldn’t even notice that this is a Gospel track. Although this isn’t my fave track, the biracial mashup leads to me to think that it will take home the win.
Cycles — Jonathan McReynolds feat. DOE (Songwriters: Jonathan McReynolds & Will Reagan)
IDK why it’s so funny to me when gospel tracks have the congregation cosigning in the background, but it makes me laugh every time. Like, I’d be honored if someone let me adlib on a track.
I’m super confused as to how I hear only women and yet the song is credited to a “Jonathan”. Per usual, the man tryna get all the credit. Fave line: “The devil, he learns from your mistakes even if you don’t. That’s how he keeps you in cycles.” Whew chile.
Meh track, nothing special. Grammy Gospel standards are looking looow.
Bored AF seconds after hitting play and ONCE AGAIN — no reason for an 8-minute song bruh. This is the definition of the kinda gospel that I hate. They be tryna pass off mediocre ass tracks as gold simply because they’re about the Lord. To start, homie needs a cough drop. Secondly, nothing even rhymes! Gospel writers looove not rhyming. Again, just because it’s about the Lordt doesn’t mean that we don’t need standards. I’m literally cringing while listening to this. Next.
Now for the good stuff…HIP HOP! Ima try not to be the Drizzy-obsessed chick that I am, but no promises.
BEST RAP SONG
Per the academy or whatever the fuck they’re called: “A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. Singles or Tracks only.”
Now THIS is Gospel. I still remember watching this video for the first time and crying my eyes out, BUT this isn’t about the video. Sidenote: this track is also nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Producer of the Year (BOI-1DA).
When the beat drops at the :24 mark — WHEW! I still get chills yo, like legit. I’m not sure what it’s called at the end of the track when it’s just the beat (I call it a “ride out”; it’s my favorite piece of a song), but this one is GOLD.
After listening to all of the tracks, this one was listed first for a reason.
I cannot stand Kendrick’s voice, but gonna give this a fair chance because of the features and I love the production. Jay Rock’s verse is by farrr my fave and I really love how everyone puts their own style on the beat. James Blake has been annoying the fuck outta me lately, but I don’t mind him here because his lyrical contribution is minimal.
Lucky You — Eminem feat. Joyner Lucas
I actually never even heard of Joyner Lucas until the whole Tory Lanez beef (Tory didn’t receive any noms btw, he salty as fuuuck). This shit got me hyyype. Joyner’s verse has minimal substance, but his flow is 🔥🔥🔥 and he killt that little bit of Spanish — I see you papi. I love that they’re both hating on Grammy’s so hard and ended up nominated for one. Em’s verse is cool. Both verses are nothing special, but I still really like the track. The producers (Boi-1da, Illa da Producer, Eminem, Jahaan Sweet) get all the credit for this one.
I’m actually scared not to choose Sicko Mode as the winner here because I don’t wanna face the wrath of Kenny (he’s up on GT tomorrow). I still remember getting cyber hype with Kenny the day this album dropped. The second beat change is probably my fave switch up in a long time, like you had no idea it was coming! I still forget that it’s coming and that verse is def my fave part of the entire song. Without Drake’s last verse, it’s really nothing special of a track.
Sidenote: I love that Swae Lee is credited on the track. Future isn’t even credited on Blue Tint, but drop a “Some-Some-Some-Someone said…” and you got royalties for life? Also, who is Big Hawk?
Sidenote II: what happened to the $ in Travis’ name?
“LIKE A LIGHT!”
WIN — Jay Rock (Songwriters: K. Duckworth, A. Hernandez, J. McKinzie, M. Samuels & C. Thompson)
“Get out the way, get the fuck up out my way, yeah!” — official 2019 mantra.
Aside from that, this song is dumb as fuck and I’m shocked it was even nominated considering the competition — Kendrick’s random ass adlibs do nothing to help.
It’s been real fam. Check in tomorrow for Kenny aka Corona Papi’s take on Best Pop Solo Performance & Best Rock Song. In the meantime, you can follow my travels on Insta and my ratchet thoughts on Twitter.
See ya on Friday for Best New Artist & Record of the Year.
