If you watched the Grammy's last night, you know that Beyoncé was the main attraction. And in true star power fashion she was saved for the end. My main problem with that is it shouldn't have been her on the stage but Ledisi.
Here's why:
Ledisi played the late great Mahalia Jackson in the highly esteemed, Academy Award nominated Selma. Even though she was only in the movie for a few minutes she did an extraordinary job of conveying the emotions of the Civil Rights Movement through her rendition of "Precious Lord". She even sings the song for the soundtrack. And she was going to be at the Grammy's. So you can understand my befuddlement when it was announced that Beyoncé was going to be performing the song.
At first I was annoyed with the Grammy's for asking her to sing the song. I thought it was a power move and because Beyoncé was the bigger name, the producers of the Grammy's thought she was the better pick. However, when I learned that she [Beyoncé] approached John Legend to sing the song I. WAS. DONE. Not only was I done with Beyoncé but I was done with John Legend and Common for agreeing to it. John Legend's reply was he couldn't say no to Beyoncé? Did they even have the courtesy to phone Ledisi and say "Hey girl, Bey asked us to do the song. So no disrespect but we going with Bey." Still not cool, but it's better than nothing. Ledisi didn't even know why she was snubbed. I'm calling fowl on the play on Beyoncé, John Legend, and Common.
The delusional Beyhive wants to say we are hating on Beyoncé and not giving her props. This is not about hate. It's not even about if she did a good job or not. This is about doing the right thing. As far as I know, Beyoncé has no connection to the movie. She's not a financial backer, actress, or sang on the soundtrack. It's the equivalent of Christina Aguilera singing And I Am Telling You from Dream Girls but you got Jennifer Hudson sitting in the audience waiting to belt it out. It's ludicrous.
I wrote a post questioning Beyoncé's claim of being a feminist. Rarely do I feel bad about things I post, but I felt a certain way about that one. I felt like I was questioning something I shouldn't. Some could still make the argument that I don't but I now stand by that post. Correct me if I'm wrong but a huge part of feminism is women supporting each other. When Beyoncé allowed Taylor Swift to finish her acceptance speech at the VMA's during her win because Kanye stage jacked her, we applauded her because it was a noble moment. Why couldn't she let Ledisi, who has only been able to perform at BET and Soul Train Awards, have this moment? No shade, no tea but Ledisi needed this moment more than Beyoncé.
If Ledisi could have had that moment to blow on stage, can you imagine what that could have done for her? We complain all the time about how these award shows do not give black people their fair due. Kanye almost had a Kanye moment when it appeared he was going to interrupt Beck, who won Best Album of the Year, to tell us that Beyoncé should have won. But the one opportunity we had for a dark skin, poised, and beautiful woman to grace the Grammy stage and instead it's given to an artist who's biggest hit this year could have been written by a 13 year old? (I jams out to 7/11 but let's not act like your lil' cousin couldn't have produced that) Nope... not here for it.
Common and John Legend share the blame as well. There was a time when both of these artists were considered Neo-Soul and not necessarily mainstream. This would have been a good time to allow a fellow Neo-Soul artist to be on the come up. The fact they chose a lack-luster introduction from Beyoncé instead is very disappointing.
I know I have spent the last 7 paragraphs going in on this catastrophe but let me praise Ledisi on how she handled it. When asked on the Red Carpet about the snub, she honestly answered that she was disappointed but said that she was excited to be in the movie and happy for the publicity that the movie is getting. You go girl!! I love a person that can be classy and graceful after being done all the way wrong. I'm going to be honest, I haven't listened to much of Ledisi but she has gained a new fan because of her character.
What did you think of the infamous snub? Comment below.
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