When I See You Again Music No Words
On Wednesday, June 10, the Grammys dropped the term "urban" from what was formerly known as the Best Urban Contemporary Album category, and this relatively new laurels was rebranded every bit Best Progressive R&B Album. Democracy Records, the label that represents Nicki Minaj, The Weeknd and Drake, is among several other tape companies that announced they too volition no longer use the term in describing everything from music genres to employee titles.
More and more than artists and executives have started calling for the removal of "urban" as a characterization in the music industry, including the winner of the 2020 Grammy for Best Rap album — Tyler, the Creator — who described the term as a "politically right way to say the N-give-and-take." Although it once had its place in the radio industry — all the mode dorsum in the 1970s — "urban" today bears racial undertones that amerce the Black artists it supposedly represents. It's fourth dimension the music industry does away with this term completely, because, in the words of Commonwealth Records, "urban" has "developed into a generalization of Black people" that does nothing but reinforce stereotypes.
Where Did "Urban" Come From?
DJ Frankie Crocker is frequently credited every bit being the outset person to use the term "urban" to depict music. In the mid 1970s, Crocker worked every bit a DJ and radio program director at New York'southward then-new station, WBLS-FM. Although his career at the station took off during the height of disco — Crocker was a frequent Studio 54 fixture and once rode into the club on a white horse — he preferred playing a diverse mix of music from an assortment of genres that included everything from funk, jazz and R&B to big ring, reggae and an emerging style that would eventually accept the world past storm: hip-hop.
To describe the unique blend of genres that he played on the station, Crocker used the phrase "urban contemporary," likely cartoon from the term "urban radio," which referred to Black-run radio stations during the Civil Rights era that used hugger-mugger codes to tell protestors where to meet for marches. He used his platform to amplify Black voices, as many of the artists he played during his sets were African American and Caribbean, and people began positively associating the phrase "urban contemporary" with the Blackness artists whose songs frequently appeared on the station. While initially "urban contemporary" described an heady melange of musical styles on ane radio prove, others took the term and ran with information technology. Stations across the land in other large cities like Detroit began using the phrase when they played music like to Crocker's sets. Eventually, every bit things tend to do when someone realizes there'southward coin to exist made, "urban contemporary" started to modify in meaning to commodify, not represent, Black artists and their fine art.
Music executives realized they could brainstorm marketing what they saw as "Black music" to white people without explicitly using words that referred to race, which staved off discomfort in an era when desegregation was withal taking place and white flight was dramatically changing the faces of American cities — which, perhaps ironically, were considered "urban" areas. In order to capitalize on this, executives started calling the music Crocker and others were playing "urban," an ambiguous-sounding term that lumped a multifariousness of genres under one umbrella term and did little for representation. While this was arguably helpful in that it immune companies to market place music by Black artists to much wider audiences, information technology also allowed them to marketplace to much whiter audiences — at a toll.
Labeling music "urban" helped make white listeners and "white executives more than comfy," Billboard executive Gail Mitchell told NPR. While creating new "urban" divisions at tape labels and radio stations paved the way for Black executives to take on burgeoning roles finding and helping Blackness artists, information technology besides allowed white leaders at those organizations to essentially "[box] those executives in. [Urban] was a bad give-and-take to the white gatekeepers," Mitchell notes. As the term spread during the 1980s, it became a catchall word that implicitly referred to any music by Blackness people — no matter what the genre of a Blackness artist happened to be, their music was just "urban." And at that signal, the discussion had picked upward enough steam to become mainstream.
Why Is It Problematic to Describe Music as "Urban"?
The term "urban" being used to describe musical genres wasn't problematic when Crocker applied it at WBLS-FM; it was celebratory and highlighted the multifariousness of the urban metropolis — New York City — that the station called habitation. But "urban" became a way of saying "Blackness" without saying Blackness, and people started using it to refer to all Black artists, regardless of their genres. The word effectively blurred and even erased the identities and differences of the artists (whose creativity should've been honored) in society to make certain the culturally dominant segment of the population didn't feel uncomfortable listening to certain music.
Information technology became a tool of oppression in the music industry, putting limits on Black artists' creativity and Black executives' agency — "they [were] told to stay in their lane," which meant they needed to stick to the genres nether the urban umbrella, Mitchell notes. "Urban" became a tool for relegating many Blackness artists to their own separate niche of music, essentially segregating them to ane category and preventing their work from gaining recognition in genres that would've put them on the same level every bit white artists. This is seen in the way the give-and-take has been codified by its utilise as a characterization in some very prominent ways. There are the Grammy awards titles, of form, but record labels have "urban" divisions and radio stations are still referred to every bit "urban" when describing the music they play. Even clothing stores are often referred to as "urban" when they sell styles that Blackness musicians have made pop.
Using the word "urban" to depict music genres has go a lazy way to group together much of today's music by Black artists. It creates the impression of a Black-artist monolith that fails to award, or even accept into business relationship, the richly varied origins and talents and the diverse voices and perspectives of Blackness singers, songwriters, composers, musicians, producers and others who have fought tirelessly to secure their places in the music industry. "Urban" racializes music by grouping together artists by race. It doesn't matter how different reggae is from hip-hop or R&B is from rap; information technology's all grouped together equally "urban."
The term is problematic because it marginalizes Blackness artists, setting them on their own outside the residual of the genres that their music actually encompasses. It keeps them on the periphery of the industry and obscures their truthful affect on music. Historically, it referenced Blackness without naming it, implying that at that place was something "wrong" with using the give-and-take "Black" because such an overt reference would make white listeners uncomfortable, and those are dangerous waters to tread. It unfairly prevents artists from accessing genres where they could arguably find more success. Despite this, some artists and executives worry about "urban" eventually disappearing.
Are There Downsides to Removing "Urban"?
Although a number of artists, executives and other manufacture-adjacent professionals accept criticized the continued employ of "urban," some aren't as excited to see information technology get. Instead, they're fearful about what it could mean for representation. An bearding source at Republic Records told Elias Leight of Rolling Stone that some Black employees were worried about the change, saying, "Their fear is, does getting rid of the term accept away our spot?" Leight goes on to note that, "for decades, 'urban' departments take been the labels' only safe haven for Blackness executives. If 'urban' disappears, what protections remain?" Others worry that discontinuing the word's use is but a symbolic gesture and that it won't really alter how a label operates — that labels volition continue to group Blackness artists together based on their race.
These concerns are existent and valid, specially in the context of a give-and-take that has historically been used to erase Black identities from music. As tape labels and other industry groups brainstorm navigating a world without "urban," it'south of utmost importance that they continue intentionally creating space for Black employees and executives to ensure their voices are heard and their representation exists.
The Grammys Drib "Urban" — Sort Of
In a promising step forrad, and perhaps arising from conversations well-nigh race that have arisen following protests over the murder of George Floyd, the Grammys opted to change the name of i award that previously used the term. However, "urban" is still in use in some other honour title. The Grammy Honour for All-time Latin Pop, Rock or Urban Album has undergone some changes and merged with other categories but continues to include the term in its new Best Latin Pop or Urban Laurels championship. What exactly is meant past "urban" in this context — and why is it still in that location? Could there be split awards for Latin Pop, Latin Rock and whatever genre "Latin Urban" might be instead of, once more, grouping relatively disparate musical styles together considering they're past Latinx artists?
That "urban" was dropped in ane category but not another is an interesting, if somewhat unexplainable, development. This could hateful that the phasing out of the term's use will exist gradual. On the other hand, information technology could mean that there's not a consensus among those in the industry who are involved in these decisions, and they need to go on the same folio. This inconsistency in naming awards also brings up the question of whether the changes were just made to placate critics with the goal of reinstating normalcy, not of setting an instance for a footstep toward positive change. At this early stage, simply time will tell.
What Will the Future Hold for "Urban"?
The music industry and globe at large accept undergone many changes since DJ Frankie Crocker showtime coined "urban contemporary." When Crocker was dissemination in the 1970s, the function of a DJ was so much more important to music culture than it is today. People didn't have the option to load up Spotify or Apple tree Music and choose a single vocal or genre to heed to. DJs curated their playlists using a multifariousness of dissimilar styles and picked the music they felt would appeal almost to their audiences. DJs lonely were the ones who could select and mix the music that played on the radio, and grouping several genres together made far more sense in the 1970s and '80s than information technology does today.
But things are different at present, and it's time for the music industry to play a little catchup in a world where it's gotten used to dictating trends. The genres grouped together equally "urban" are then diverse that frequently the only affair they accept in common is the race of many of the artists, and it's time for the music industry to admit that variety in a manner that's more meaningful. Forcing these genres under the aforementioned category for the sake of an laurels tin feel insulting to the artists involved and to artistry itself. It'due south time for the industry to remove "urban" from its vocabulary completely and beginning celebrating individual genres. And this needs to happen while the industry uses its power to secure spots for the Blackness executives currently working in "urban" departments — and the many more people of color it needs to hire in guild to accolade the diverseness it's been capitalizing on for decades.
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Source: https://www.ask.com/entertainment/grammys-removes-word-urban?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740004%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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