J. Prince has begun his own campaign to take over one of the music industry’s biggest nights. The Rap A Lot Records founder called on artists and music lovers to boycott the 2022 Grammy Awards ceremony following the decision by Grammy executives to ban Kanye West.
This follows West’s feud with host Trevor Noah regarding controversial comments about his divorce. After finding out, Noah tweeted, “I said counsel Kayne not cancel Kanye.” But J. Prince plans to change all of that.
On Tuesday, March 22, the 56-year-old business mogul shared his idea to host a star-studded concert on the same night featuring fellow hip-hop heavyweights like Nicki Minaj, Drake and others.
“Hip-hop vs. the Grammys. I’ve been watching the Grammys control and dictate our culture to their benefit up close and personal for the past 30 years that I’ve been in the music business,” Prince began in an Instagram video featuring Variety’s report of Kanye’s ban. “And all the artists, managers and executives would do is complain. But never have the nuts to come together and do anything about it. Even though the latest episode deals with Trevor Noah and the canceling of Kanye, this racist act is so much bigger than them.”
He added, “So they canceled Kanye, discriminated against Drake, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj and many others over the years. This will only be broken by us uniting our powers to bring about change moving forward.”
Prince wants to replace the Grammys with his Las Vegas Night “because there’s power in numbers.”
He said, “I recommend that the artists that I’ve mentioned above and more come together in Las Vegas and perform at the same time as the Grammys on a special network and streaming platform to prove that ratings will change where the Grammys are concerned when the #1 selling genre in the music hip-hop comes together.”
Nicki Minaj, who previously called out the Grammys in 2020, seems to be on board with performing at J. Prince’s concert. In the comments, she added the praying hands’ emoji next to the word “Respect.”
Nearly two years ago, the “Super Bass” artist reminded us she lost the Best New Artist award to a white man in 2011. At the time, she had seven chart-topping singles from her debut album, “Pink Friday.”
“Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade,” Nicki tweeted in November 2020. “Went on to inspire a generation. They gave it to the white man Bon Iver. #PinkFriday.”
Meanwhile, TMZ caught up with Migos rapper Quavo, who also seems to agree with Prince’s sentiments about the impact of Black culture on awards shows.
“Let’s do it,” said Quavo about doing Prince’s concert. “We need to make our own awards. Awards that appreciate the real shit that’s going on in the streets, that appreciate the culture. That appreciate when guys are the best new artist.”
He then explained that certain stipulations prohibited artists, noting that groups are not eligible for XXL’s annual Freshman Class list for new artists.
He said, “All these [little] stimulations on our artistry is lame cause we the creators.”
When asked who should vote on the Grammys to “get it right,” Quavo said, “New younger founders. New younger guys who [are] tapped into the culture. Got to be in the field to know what’s real.”
