5 Highlights From Recording Academy Videos in Which Cordae Grills Harvey Mason Jr. on Grammy Process

The Recording Academy has launched a series of online videos dubbed “#FlippingTheRecord.” “Through honest, unfiltered conversations, we’ll reveal everything you really need to know about the Recording Academy, the Grammys, and our year-round work,” an Academy blurb promised.

In the first four videos, which the Academy posted on its Instagram and TikTok accounts on Friday (June 9), rapper Cordae pressed Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. on a wide range of matters, including voting and representation.

None of Cordae’s questions ruffled the ever-polished Mason, though they were frequently pointed, especially given that this is an Academy-sponsored project. “The people may feel like the Grammys have been making blatantly bad music decisions the last 15-20 years and maybe even further than that,” was Cordae’s opening comment.

Cordae made clear his displeasure that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis beat Kendrick Lamar for best rap album in 2014, and that fun. beat Frank Ocean for best new artist in 2013. (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis beat Lamar in four categories that year, but that was the only one Cordae mentioned. Cordae didn’t mention fun. by name, but he did lament that Ocean lost in that category.) “It always seems like it’s happening to Black folks,” Cordae complained.

The 25-year-old Cordae, formerly known as YBN Cordae, has gone 0-3 at the Grammys. Mason, 55, also knows what it’s like to be disappointed on Grammy night. His career track record stands at 0-5. In their conversation, Mason revealed the loss that irked him the most. Let’s start with that in this recap of five highlights from a series of Recording Academy videos on the Grammy process.