Introduction
The Recording Academy announced that poetry will be included as a category at this year's Grammy Awards. This was a long time coming. Poetry has been getting more recognition in pop culture lately, especially among young people, who have been writing and performing more poetry since the early 2000s. The Grammys haven't had an official category for poetry before now, but it's not the first time poets have performed at the awards ceremony—there are some other artists who have done so over the years: Maya Angelou did it in 1988 and 1999, Carl Hancock Rux in 2007, and Saul Williams in 2008 (though none of them won). But this is still exciting news! The first artist to perform in this new category is J. Ivy from Brooklyn; his performance will air during Sunday night's award show on CBS.
The Recording Academy announced that poetry will be included as a category at this year's Grammy Awards.
The new award, called Best Spoken Word Album, will be given out during the 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony on Feb 10. The first artist to perform in this new category is J. Ivy, who plans on performing his poem "This Is America."
"I'm excited about it," said J. Ivy when asked about performing at such an important event and being recognized by his peers in music industry as well as others who love poetry."
This was a long time coming.
It's been a long time coming. The Grammys have been around for over 60 years, and they're not exactly known for being open to change. But this year, the Recording Academy made an effort to include poetry with their awards show by adding a new category called Best Spoken Word Album--and it's awesome!
The only problem is that they left out several people who should have definitely been nominated (like Lin-Manuel Miranda).
Poetry has been getting more recognition in pop culture lately.
Poetry has been getting more recognition in pop culture lately. It's been featured in movies and television shows, music videos, commercials and even at awards shows!
For example, you may have seen Lin-Manuel Miranda perform his spoken word poem "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)" at the Grammys last year. He wrote it for his musical Hamilton: An American Musical--which won Best Musical Theater Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards ceremony.
Lin-Manuel isn't alone: other artists have used poetry as part of their performances too! For example, Kanye West performed a freestyle rap called "Ultralight Beam" (which you might recognize from Chance The Rapper's song) during this year's award show with an accompanying video featuring several people reciting poetry lines from other famous poems such as Langston Hughes' "Mother To Son."
This is the first time the Grammys have included a category for poetry.
It's the first time in history that the Grammys have included a category for poetry. This is a big deal! It's also a major step for the genre, which has struggled to find mainstream recognition.
The opportunity it presents is huge: If you're an aspiring poet who wants to make it big, now there's one more place where you can shine.
Poetry is becoming more and more popular in America, especially among young people.
Poetry is becoming more and more popular in America, especially among young people. This is because of the ease with which you can access poetry on the internet, as well as the rise of spoken word events that allow you to perform your own work.
In addition to this, there are also many more opportunities for poets and aspiring poets to get their poems out there through social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook where people can easily share their work with friends or strangers alike!
The first artist to perform in this new category is J. Ivy.
J. Ivy is a spoken-word artist and the first person to perform in this category. He has written two books of poetry, including "Love and Survival: A Journey Through Breast Cancer." In addition to being an author and poet, he also works as an activist for human rights issues such as poverty, homelessness and HIV/AIDS awareness.
Before he began his performance tonight he said: "I'm going to take you on a journey through love -- from when we were young children until now."
Poetry is going mainstream!
The Grammys have been around since 1958, and they're one of the highest honors in music. They also recognize poetry, which means that there's a lot of power behind it--poetry is becoming more accepted by the mainstream. And this isn't just happening at awards shows: it's happening all over pop culture now too. Poems are being used in movies (like Boyhood), TV shows (like Game Of Thrones), and even commercials for products like cars or coffee makers!
Conclusion
The Recording Academy has decided to include poetry as a category at this year's Grammy Awards. This is great news for poets and poetry lovers everywhere! Poetry has been getting more recognition in pop culture lately, so we think it's only fitting that the Grammys would want to include this growing art form in their awards show. J. Ivy will be performing his poem "We Are Not Afraid" during the award ceremony on February 10th, 2019 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
