Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Quick Hitters:: Speech Debelle

Now I'm far from the most qualified to comment on this, as I heard almost none of the albums nominated, but I always enjoy when an album like this wins an award like this. Mainly because it always sends the rap haters into a tizzy, but too often hip hop gets overlooked when matched up with
Now the Mercury has been around longer than the Polaris, so this gives me hope that at some point a hip hop album will win the Polaris (K'NAAN's album is solid, but I don't see him winning this year). I do think it's funny that one of the main complaint streams in the pre-Polaris chatter we've heard is how very white and male the past winners (and a bunch of this year's nominees) are. Well a black female rapper won the Mercury, and what kind of tweet-age did I see from the Canadian music types after it was announced? A resounding round of "Who?" and "I thought x or y should have won!". There's a lesson in that, and the lesson is that 50% of the merds will be unhappy no matter what you do. Something to think about, oh, and congrats to Speech Debelle.
MP3:: Speech Debelle - Better Days revox f. Wiley
MP3:: Pete Lawrie & Speech Debelle - (Black And Blue) That's How I Feel About You
MYSPACE:: www.myspace.com/speechdebellemusic
VIDEO:: Speech Debelle - The Key
VIDEO:: Speech Debelle - The Key
Labels: Hip Hop, Mercury Prize, merds, polaris, Speech Debelle, UK