Eternia: Hip-hop shafted at Junos Rye grad upset over treatment at awards ryerson.ca ETERNIA - It's Called Life Reported by: Eternia Special to the Ryersonian If I were to summarize the Juno Awards in one statement it would probably be: "full of surprises." And not the "here's your new gift at Christmas" kind, but more like the kind that you need an open bar to compensate for… and to run to. I arrived in Halifax on the Thursday before the awards (April 2). It was my first nomination. I was honoured and excited. My stylist, Jamila, had worked on a "Juno outfit" for me for weeks. I had my friend, Niya Melodie, create hand- made accessories to match the outfit. I spent hundreds of dollars on the shoes and purse to match. I was ready to walk the red carpet on Sunday with one primary objective: to get in the cameras' face as much as possible. I was aware no one would know who I was because I was the underdog in the Rap Recording of the Year category. My job was to grab their attention, then hopefully promote my "Stop Violence Against Women" campaign with Amnesty International and tie into my new music video for "Love." It is a vital and very personal message to me. The song is about the abusive relationship my mother escaped from while pregnant with me. What better way to promote this campaign and message but to a bunch of media on the red carpet, I thought. Naïve? Perhaps. But I was confident that once they heard I was a nominee, and heard what I was working on, it would be newsworthy. Oh the foolishness of untainted artists. My first stop was at the Urban showcase at JunoFest on the Friday night. I had an incredible time performing. The Halifax hip-hop crowd is the best crowd I have ever rocked for in Canada. They know my lyrics! Not just hooks, but actual verses! As an independent artist with extremely low record sales (yes I am honest), this is always a shock to me. Nothing could knock me down from the confidence cloud the crowd had propelled me on to. I was ready for what the weekend had in store. Later that evening, I went to a party attended by everyone from the industry. I noticed a CTV camera hovering around fellow nominee Kardinal Offishall. I approached them, introduced myself, and in a flustered and hurried way, attempted to promote the Amnesty cause and the new music video, using the key word "nominee" to spark their interest. No go. They showed no interest in interviewing me on camera. That's fine, I told myself. I am a newbie and have dues to pay. Sunday will be the day. On Saturday I convinced my brother to attend the Juno Gala Awards dinner that would not be televised. I thought it would be a good networking opportunity. Wrong again. We showed up and found out within minutes that all the urban music awards were going to be given out that night - not Sunday. I was in shock. Another rap nominee, Classified, had purchased nearly $4,000 worth of tickets for his whole crew (30 deep) to roll to the televised awards on Sunday. Kardinal and I had flown in from other cities (thank you Radio Starmaker Fund). Multiple people were working on my red carpet outfit, accessories, hair and makeup. I had family watching the awards on Sunday. I had my brother pay for his own ticket to Halifax as my date. All for what? For nothing, apparently. I didn't go to the Junos to win. I went to the Junos to experience the congregation of the entire Canadian music industry, and to relish in the nomination. Thanks to the "surprises" the Junos had waiting for Canada's urban nominees, I was able to do neither. The televised show the following night was bittersweet for everyone nominated in the urban music categories. We felt shafted, shunned, and most of all, tricked into attending. I worked the red carpet terribly and wasn't taken seriously by the media whatsoever. It is no surprise that we, as Canadian "urban" artists, are a far cry from gaining mainstream acceptance from the buying public, and in turn, the Canadian music industry. In other words, we are the ugly stepchildren of the Canadian music scene. However, I did not expect this sentiment to be displayed so prominently at this year's Juno Awards. Ratings aside, how can we grow as a music genre and as artists when even our own national awards do not "rate" us? This ugly step-kid returned home from the Junos more disillusioned then ever before. One question resonated in my head: "Is it all worth it?"