Rap on the map - and awards shows - thanks to Jay-Z

Ben Johnson

Tribune Media Services

Music award shows aren't what they used to be. The opulence, shout-outs and performances running the gamut from embarrassing and ridiculous to showstopping - those things remain in full regalia. But these days, unwieldy televised events, such as the Grammys, the Billboard Music Awards, and the American Music Awards have begun to include something extra in their programming - rap music.

That will be in evidence Tuesday, November 21, when ABC airs live coverage of the 2006 American Music Awards from the Shrine Auditorium, in Los Angeles. Jimmy Kimmel will host as three awards in the rap/hip-hop category - favourite male artiste, favorite band, duo or group, and favourite album - will be handed out.

That's not bad, considering as recently as 2002 these awards only had one. And whom do we have to thank for this egalitarian treatment of rap? Jay-Z.

OK, maybe not only Jay-Z, but the Brooklyn, N.Y.-born rapper has to get part of the cred for getting the awards ceremonies to pay more attention to urban music. In 1998, when his blockbuster record, Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life, won the Grammy for best rap album, Jay-Z didn't even show up.

"I am boycotting the Grammys because too many major rap artistes continue to be overlooked," he said at the time in a statement. "Rappers deserve more attention from the Grammy committee and from the whole world."

chart-topping singles

Granted, both the Grammys and the American Music Awards had included categories for rap music as early as 1988, but Jay-Z was right. Nearly 10 years later, rap had a worldwide audience, platinum record sales and scores of chart-topping singles, and the genre's share of play in awards ceremonies didn't really reflect its importance to the music industry. Rap may have been rocking the block from Brooklyn to Beijing, but it wasn't necessarily getting the respect of a real art form.

Fast forward to now, and Jay-Z's statements carry even more weight. Not only has rap music established its powerful presence at awards ceremonies, but Jay-Z himself has proven his own significance. He's got his own clothing line, he's an owner of the New Jersey Nets - which he hopes to bring to Brooklyn in the next several years - and he's done what almost no other artiste susc as he has done: He's become the president of a major record label.

For nearly two years, Jay-Z has been sitting on the other side of the desk at perhaps the most important urban music record company in the world - Def Jam Records. And as Def Jam's most famous executive, Jay-Z thinks things are looking good for his genre of music, at least in terms of the awards ceremonies.

"I think they're all improving," he says. "Even if you look at last year's Grammys as opposed to four years ago - which is not a long time - you'll see a major difference in how they televise rap awards and the respect level that's given to rap. I think it's changing slowly, but in a positive way." Tuesday, some of Def Jam's hottest acts, such as Kanye West, Ne-Yo and Jay-Z himself will be at the AMAs to represent the label.

And while some people will be tuning in to watch the evening's entertainment, others will be walking out of record stores with Jay-Z's "I couldn't stay retired" record, Kingdom Come, which drops the same day. Produced mostly by Dr. Dre and Just Blaze, Kingdom Come was the inevitable product of Jay-Z staying around music. He's admittedly nervous about the record coming together as a cohesive album, but he also suggests that he didn't have much choice in making the record eventually - even if he had promised to trade in his mike for a suit.

"When the opportunity presented itself to work at Def Jam, it was like the perfect time for me - it felt like the perfect segue for me," he says. "I could show the culture in a great light, show that an artiste could ascend the executive levels - there were so many things as to why it made sense or why it was the perfect thing at the perfect time. But you know, I didn't account for passion. I had it all figured out logically, but when you love something, that's the part that's hard to figure."

Loving what you do as an artiste figures into Jay-Z's philosophy on making great music as well, which is probably why he's critically acclaimed and wildly popular at the same time. The release of Kingdom Come was too late for Jay-Z to be recognised at this year's AMAs, but it's a good bet that next year he will be in the mix. Jay-Z is undeniably focused on what is a good move - in his life, his career and his music.

"Entertainment is one thing, when people dance to your music in the club, but when people buy you for you, then you've connected to them a certain way," he says. "You told your story in a way that was so clear and so honest that it connected with them. You have to give yourself, if people are going to connect to you as an artiste. Songs are songs - that's what they are. But an artiste is forever."

Rapper Jay-Z is expected to appear at the 2006 American Music Awards, which airs Tuesday night, at 8, on ABC.