Chicago Brings Home the Gold with Grammy Wins

Danielle Sanders CNW Managing Editor

Chicago Artists won big at this year’s Grammy Awards. Spoken Word artist, J. Ivy became the first winner of the best-spoken word poetry album for his project, “The Poet Who Sat By the Door.” J. Ivy led a petition with over 100 poets’ support to add a category specific to the genre of poetry. Previously poetry was included in the same category as audiobooks. In a previous interview with CNW, J. Ivy said, “I feel honored and extremely proud… I have a seat at the table…it puts a voice in the room for the poetry community.” The latest project, “The Poet who Sat by the Door” was inspired by Ivy’s love of the film, “The Spook Who Sat by the Door. The project featured a who’s who of Chicago artists including Deon Cole, BJ the Chicago Kid, Maurice Brown, his wife, artist, Tarrey Torae and fellow Chicago Nominee, Sir the Baptist. “I’ve been dreaming about this for so long. What dream is this? That’s all I keep asking,” an emotional J. Ivy said in his acceptance speech. He continued “I gotta thank my city Chicago… this is for the poets yall.” J. Ivy was also involved in the production of TSU’s Aristocrat of Bands “The Urban Hymnal,” which also made history as the first HBCU to earn a Grammy award with fellow nominee, Sir the Baptist.

Sir William James the Baptist is a highly profiled, 2x Grammy Award-nominated writer, two-time Dove award-winning producer and three-time stellar award-winning, BMI 2021 songwriter of the year. Known for his creative innovations that have pioneered the gospel culture, Sir the Baptist took home a Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album for “The Urban Hymnal.”

Sir the Baptist produced the project with Dallas Austin and TSU professor, Larry Jenkins. TSU ran out of money trying to complete the project and Sir the Baptist used his savings to complete the project.

“These kids worked so hard and to be honest with you guys, HBCUs are so grossly underfunded, to where I had to put my last dime in order to get us across the line. My cousin got us across the line, even when I gave all. We’re here with our pockets empty, but our hands aren’t!” Sir the Baptist said in his acceptance speech.

TSU’s professor Larry Jenkins also thanked his students saying, “Your hard work and dedication created the pen that allowed you to write your own page in the history books. We all know we made history, but this is also February. We also made Black history.” With the win, TSU’s “Aristocrat of Bands” became the first marching band to win in the category.

Before the Grammy Awards, J. Ivy and Sir the Baptist were honored along with fellow Chicago nominee, DJ Terry Hunter during the “Breaking Bread & Giving Flowers” brunch. J. Ivy said, “it’s amazing to be nominated with my fellow Chicago Brothers, DJ Terry Hunter, and Sir the Baptist.”

Other Grammy winners included Dr. Dre, Muni Long, Steve Lacy, Kendrick Lamar, Robert Glasper, Dave Chappelle, and Samara Joy. Beyonce and Viola Davis made history at the Grammys. Beyonce broke the record for most Grammy wins in history and Viola Davis achieved EGOT status with her win for Best Audio Book Narration and Storytelling with her memoir “Finding Me.”

The highlight of the evening was the 14-minute tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop curated by Roots drummer, Questlove. The tribute featured some of the genre’s greatest artists for a crowd-pleasing performance including Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Salt-n-Pepa, Rakim, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Scarface, Ice-T, Queen Latifah, Method Man and more.