The 50th Grammy Awards: 'There are no losers in this category, Kanye'

Sunday's Grammy Awards was one of things like a doctor's appointment or a first day of school. Meaning that in an ideal world, I would have stayed as far away as possible from the show, knowing that it would be dull, drawn-out and restlessly redundant. But it's not an ideal world -- plus, ignoring a music show kind of defeats the purpose of a music blog -- so last night I tuned in to CBS and wasted two hours of my life. (I say two hours because at 10, Silence of the Lambs came on, and I found my worthy excuse.)

Let me be honest. The only reason I -- and most people, I would assume -- watched the show last night was for the main event: the Album of the Year battle between Kanye West and Amy Winehouse. Despite the fact that I did believe Winehouse's Back to Black was 2007's best album, I theorized that Kanye's Graduation would take the top prize. Boy was I -- and most people, I would assume -- completely off on that one.

The final and highest award of the night, presented by Quincy Jones and Usher -- who said "There are no losers in this category, Kanye" before announcing the winner -- went to veteran jazz veteran player Herbie Hancock for his album River: The Joni Letters. It was such an upset, it should have been obvious.

All the websites that I read prior to Sunday had predicted that the Grammy would go to Kanye, who did pull four, including Rap Album of the Year. But like I stated earlier, this is the Year of the Underdog, so it was only natural that the award would go to someone other than Winehouse, who was the big winner with five trophies, and West, who is now 0-3 in the big category.

Ever since he slayed 50 Cent in September, you can't really call Kanye an underdog anymore. He's on top. Despite his no-win record, he was the favorite and you can just ask the New England Patriots how that works out in these big contests.

Now, to state my disclaimer, I haven't heard Hancock's album and he actually looked just as surprised as everyone else was when his name was called. Some of the other wins worthy of mentioning:

Best Urban/Alternative Performance
WINNER: "Daydreamin' "
Lupe Fiasco (featuring Jill Scott)
Track from: Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor

Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
WINNER: "Southside"
Common (featuring Kanye West)
Track from: Finding Forever

And Kanye did at least beat Soulja Boy for Best Rap Song with Good Life.
See complete winners list here. Kanye also dedicated one of his awards to his mother in this acceptance speech as the Grammy people tried to hurry him up by playing some music.

But as much as the Grammys proved again why these formulaic multi-hour awards shows should be completely overhauled, here are my favorite three moments of the night:

Nas and Kelis arrive at the awards show in true plug fashion and discuss his upcoming album, Nigger, and hip hop's alleged death with CNN.


Even though he lost the big one, there is no doubt that Kanye West is the hands-down best when he's doing his thing on stage. Here he is in a futuristic performance with Stronger.


Amy Winehouse was broadcasting from London because her visa request was denied. Her performance was on point but even better than that was her response after she won Record of the Year for Rehab.