Grammy awards

Today's music gross me out completely. And that has more to do with the awkwardness than it's lewd content. Though, both have conspired with popularity to replace actual talent with technology in the music industry today. With that at the back of my mind, a glass of wine in my hand and my legs on a coffee table , I settled down to watch Grammy at the comfort of my modest apartment.

The high points for me was the tribute to artistes who have died and most especially rendition of Prince's songs by the group and a five star performance by Adele for George Michael. The organizers deserve credit for setting up a platform to recognize and give deserving credits to both the living and the dead, in a live event.

In awarding awards, there will always be controversy over who deserved it and with what criteria. This again popped up like a champagne in this Grammy award ceremony. I first heard of Adele's Hello on radio last year in Nigeria and I was hooked. I had thought nobody was going to call my attention with Hello after Lionel Ritchie did. Well Adele did in the most

sonorous of voices.

But, it must be said that Adele did a good job of the poetic lyrics of the song as written by Gregory Kurstin. I have always bet on black but when the nominations came up between Adele and Beyonce, I knew that it was going to be easily decided in favour of Adele and deservingly so, it was. Even though both are amazing singers.

The peak of the moment however came when Adele decided to break one of her five awards during her acceptance speech in to not too equal halves so as to share it with an equally deserving Beyonce. That was a silly gesture,really,and it made mockery of the sincerity she was trying to express in her acknowledgement of Beyonce as her role model.

Adele compulsion to symbolically give part of her award stems from the neo colonial mindset that anchors on national prejudice. Remember how the British 'gave us independence' after having invaded our land, amalgamated us and expected us to be thankful and remain indebted with gratitude like Beyonce.

As if that was not bad enough, the British government went ahead and released James, not Blunt, I mean Ibori  (a singer with a bad record-pun intended) to us, while they held on to Buhari who had done nothing, as in nothing! Just like the Jews, we are watching.

But seriously, somebody did put it aptly by saying that giving people something for nothing just because it feels "right" just creates the entitlement mentality and that is the last thing the black race needs; because it perpetuates the existing problem of complexity.