As the tentpole awards ceremony in the U.K.'s music calendar, The BRIT Awards are pivotal to how British music is seen around the world. The award show, established 1977, is meant to be reflective of music celebrated within British culture (the clue is in the name). It has two jobs: to take the temperature of the country's music, and to provide a sign of which way the wind is blowing. In 2016, it has work to do on both fronts.

Grime artists like Stormzy and JME are charting in the Top 10 and Top 20 in the U.K official charts, yet are being overlooked by the awards without so much as a nomination or performance at the ceremony. Beyond grime, black British artists in general are mostly unrepresented: in 2015, FKA twigs was the only British person of color to be nominated for a BRIT award. This year—while U.K. pop acts and singer-songwriters Adele, James Bay, and Years & Years are tied for the highest number of nominations—a grand total of one black British act is nominated (production trio Disciples, for their collaboration with Calvin Harris). Asking why this is the case seems to be the awkward conversation no one wants to have. I would like to have it.



Grime has historically been largely absent at the BRITs, but its crossover moments have received recognition before. In 2002, chart-topping garage/grime group So Solid Crew performed at the awards, and eight years later, after his performance, Dizzee Rascal went home with the Best British Male award. That is the reality of the BRITs: you have to chart to be recognized. At the time of the last ceremony, February 2015, there simply weren’t enough U.K. rap and grime artists outselling the names that were nominated. But one year on, factoring in grime's commercial success and critical acclaim, the landscape looks very different.