BET announced the 2020 BET Awards nominations this week and as usual, a superstar artist is unhappy with their lack of nominations. Artists arguing that BET has snubbed them has become something of a tradition for the network. In 2017, Dreezy went off on BET for only nominating female rappers who didn’t even put albums out in the year before, while in 2019, Nicki Minaj was miffed at a Facebook post comparing her to Cardi B and pulled out of her appearance. This year, it looks like it’s an R&B artist’s turn to be annoyed as PartyNextDoor vented his frustration on Twitter.
“When did Black Entertainment Television get so Complex and forget Partynextdoor is the RNB artist of our generation?” he wondered. “Is it because I don’t wanna be friends? Is it because i put value in the art instead of people? Is it because it’s not the popular opinion? I am BET. I am Complex.” It seems he thinks that his recently-released album PartyMobile deserved at least a mention in the R&B category. Instead, Anderson .Paak, Chris Brown, Jacquees, Khalid, The Weeknd, and Usher were all nominated for Best Male R&B/Pop Artist, while the Album Of The Year category features strong contenders like Beyonce, Lizzo, and H.E.R.
It seems the tradition of BET making artists mad remains intact for another year, but it’s to be expected. There’s more music than ever these days and as the category field have to remain capped at some manageable number, someone is always going to end up feeling left out. As for why the BET Awards have a particular prickle factor, the answer likely lies in Black artists’ responses to their Grammy snubs. While being ignored by outsiders probably doesn’t surprise anyone, having one of the few Black-focused outlets overlook you probably stings a lot more. But no artist, including Party, should feel too hurt; he’s accomplished more than enough to feel like his spot in the game is solid. After all, he did change the modern sound of R&B forever with his self-titled debut.
Check out the Uproxx review of PartyMobile here.
PartyNextDoor is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.