The Recording Academy – the organization behind the Grammy awards – has decided to change its category names, including ‘Urban Contemporary’.
The new category will be called ‘Progressive R&B’.
The move comes amid criticism in the music industry over the term ‘urban’, which puts genres including hip-hop and R&B (which tend to be recorded by African American artists) in the same category.
Some say that this meant the Grammy’s ‘urban contemporary’ category was simply ‘black music’. The term was initially started back in the 1970s.
The renamed category will include hip-hop, rap, dance and electronic music. The academy says it will also include pop, euro-pop and rock.
On Friday, Republic Records – a division of Universal Records – said it would stop using the term urban altogether.
The Recording Academy has also changed its ‘Best New Artist’ award, by removing the number of releases requirement.
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