A HOOD TALKS 2015 Grammy Award Highlights

The show opened with AC/DC rocking the house playing their "Highway to Hell" number, and seemed to get the audience in the mood for a good time. 

Watching Kanye perform his "One and Only" song was cool; the dark room with a single light fixated upon him gave a very stoic but dramatic expression, and the song seemed to sound better live than the actual video. 

Although the content and melody is lovely, the fact that in the video there was so much auto-tune with Kanye's vocals dragged out over long periods of time completely through me off -- therefore, not making me an immediate fan of the song. However, Kanye performing the song live made me like it a little bit more; maybe he should've released a live version of the song instead of a pre-recorded version? It was a heartfelt performance for sure, and I appreciated his musical truth.

Watching Madonna's performance, the first thing I thought was DAMN! She looks good! How old is she again?! 

Her words were empowering yet inspirational; strong. The song "Living for Love" was hot and extremely energetic -- a club banger for sure. Get'em "Material Girl!"

Ed Sheeran ROCKS-OUT! This man is simply soulful and fluid as the day is long, I just love his "Thinking Out Loud" jam! He is a-ma-zing! And his duo with Jeff Lynnes and ELO was stellar; these artist make you truly love music and appreciate the magnificent artistry that goes into making such masterpieces. 

Adam Levine (who had me from the hit "She Will Be Loved") and Gwen Stefanie (who had me from her hit "I'm Just A Girl"), I mean, there are just no words. These two are legendary to say the least, but singing together side by side? Well, that's just the cherry on top of the sundae for me. 

Annie Lennox (r) gave me the absolute CHILLS, as she sang with Hozier "Take Me To Church" and "I Put A Spell On You." Where has Annie Lennox been all my life?! Woooo! Hot Damn! That girl got talent! 

Pharrell's "Happy" Choreography and instrumentalist's were beautifully placed and performed lovely.

A strong and inspirational message was delivered by a domestic abuse survivor, who spoke after a PSA was shown of President Obama addressing the importance of artists speaking out about such treacherous issues. 

Following her strategic and graceful Superbowl performance, Katy Perry performed a beautiful ballad dressed in all white with a silhouette of dancers moving angelically behind her as she herself sounded angelic, crisp and passionately engulfed in her song "By The Grace Of God", in which she received a well-deserved standing ovation. The song was dedicated on behalf of domestic abuse victims.

Paul McCartney, Rihanna, and Kanye West gave a great performance. Their movements weren't coordinated and instead seemed to be free-styled, as they emotionally sang and rapped passionate feelings about "wailing out" on someone. The music was really good though, and Rihanna seemed to take over the stage with her strong and soulful vocals. 

It felt good to hear Mary J. Blige's one-of-a-kind voice with new comer to the stage, Sam Smith. Sometimes, you never know how much you miss a person until you see and/or hear them -- such was the case with Mary, as she sang "Stay With Me" with Smith, a new four time Grammy award winner.

The artist formerly known as Prince, presented album of the year as he stated that "Albums...remember those? Albums still matter. Like books and black lives, albums still matter." 

As Prince introduced Beck as the album of the year winner, Kanye jokingly tried to defend Beyonce's honor...again, as he took to the stage to block Beck's award. It just wouldn't be Kanye NOT to pull such a stunt? 

Sia's "Chandelier" performance was extraordinary; all you saw was a great pair of legs on a woman whose back was turned to the audience during the entire performance, while two actors entertained onlookers with an emotionally charged choreographed dance as Sia sang her heart out. It was great.

Beyonce sang "Precious Lord" amidst some controversy that singer Ledisi, had originally been asked to perform her song "Selma" during that same segment. And although Ledisi commented that she was "disappointed" about the snub, she let it be known that she was nowhere near upset. 

The "Drunk In Love" singer dressed angelically in an all-white gown with matching sheer cape, as all black men stood behind her in all-white suits. An Organ played in the background -- assisting Beyonce with  her very soulful rendition of the church inspired gospel song. 

Singer John Legend and Hip Hop artist Common, took to the stage to close out the show after Queen Bey's performance -- sharing their academy award winning duet "Glory" with the world once again. The song sounded just as good as it did at the end of the film "Selma"; the words still as impactful and deep. It was beautiful. 

Art is a feeling, and oh how I LOVE to feel art. The 2015 Grammy's were incredible. 

2015 LA

The 2015 Grammy Winner List below: Congrats to all winners and those who were nominated!

RECORD OF THE YEAR
Stay With Me (Darkchild Version) - Sam Smith

SONG OF THE YEAR
Stay With Me (Darkchild Version) - James Napier, William Phillips & Sam Smith

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Morning Phase - Beck

BEST COUNTRY ALBUM
Platinum - Miranda Lambert

BEST R&B PERFORMANCE
Drunk In Love - Beyoncé Featuring Jay Z

BEST ROCK ALBUM
Morning Phase - Beck

BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM
In The Lonely Hour - Sam Smith

BEST SOLO POP PERFORMANCE
Happy (Live) - Pharrell Williams

BEST NEW ARTIST
Sam Smith

BEST POP DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
Say Something - A Great Big World With Christina Aguilera

BEST R&B SONG
Drunk In Love - Shawn Carter, Rasool Diaz, Noel Fisher, Jerome Harmon, Beyoncé Knowles, Timothy Mosely, Andre Eric Proctor & Brian Soko

BEST URBAN CONTEMPORARY ALBUM
Girl - Pharrell Williams

BEST R&B ALBUM
Love, Marriage & Divorce - Toni Braxton & Babyface

BEST RAP PERFORMANCE
I - Kendrick Lamar

BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION
The Monster - Eminem Featuring Rihanna

BEST RAP SONG
I - K. Duckworth & C. Smith

BEST RAP ALBUM
The Marshall Mathers LP2 - Eminem

BEST ROCK SONG
Ain't It Fun - Hayley Williams & Taylor York

BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE
Lazaretto - Jack White

BEST METAL PERFORMANCE
The Last In Line - Tenacious D

BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM
St. Vincent - St. Vincent

BEST COUNTRY SONG
I'm Not Gonna Miss You - Glen Campbell & Julian Raymond

BEST COUNTRY DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
Gentle On My Mind - The Band Perry

BEST COUNTRY SOLO PERFORMANCE
Something In The Water - Carrie Underwood

BEST DANCE/ELECTRONIC ALBUM
Syro - Aphex Twin

BEST DANCE RECORDING
Rather Be - Clean Bandit Featuring Jess Glynne

BEST MUSIC FILM
20 Feet From Stardom - Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer & Judith Hill

BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Happy - Pharrell Williams

BEST FOLK ALBUM
Remedy - Old Crow Medicine Show

BEST SURROUND SOUND ALBUM
Beyoncé - Elliot Scheiner, Bob Ludwig, and Beyoncé Knowles

BEST REMIXED RECORDING (NON-CLASSICAL)
All Of Me (Tiesto's Birthday Treatment Remix) - Tijs Michiel Verwest

BEST SONG WRITTEN FOR VISUAL MEDIA
Let It Go - Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez

BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat

BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
Frozen -Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Tom MacDougall & Chris Montan

BEST MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

BEST REGGAE ALBUM
Fly Rasta - Ziggy Marley

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR (NON-CLASSICAL)
Max Martin

BEST COMEDY ALBUM
Mandatory Fun - "Weird Al" Yankovic

BEST SPOKEN WORD ALBUM
Diary Of A Mad Diva - Joan Rivers

BEST TRADITIONAL POP VOCAL ALBUM
Cheek To Cheek - Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga