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While many are excited for John Legend and Common’s win for Best Original Song at the Oscars last night, I am not one of them. For me, the song was the worst part of a great movie and it came across as corny and manufactured. I am a fan of John Legend and Common and believe that Common should have won an Oscar for Best Original Song for “Love Of My Life” with Erykah Badu from Brown Sugar and John Legend should’ve won for “Who Did That To You” from Django Unchained.

Still, the Oscars often reward corny and manufactured songs, so it is not surprising that “Glory” won. The other songs that were nominated were not that much better than “Glory,” but the way it won seemed like a plan by the Oscars to reward Black people – but not for their filmmaking.

John Legend and Common are not the first African-Americans to win an Oscar for Best Song, Isaac Hayes won for “Shaft” and Stevie Wonder won for “I Just Called To Say I Love You.” In what was seen as a cruel joke by many, Three 6 Mafia won for “Hard Out Here For A Pimp.”

But when it comes to African-American music, the Oscars have largely neglected it. The epic reggae music from The Harder They Come received no Oscar nominations. Despite brilliant music from Public Enemy, Branford Marsalis, and Stevie Wonder, no Spike Lee movie has ever had a song nominated for Best Original Song.

Movies like Love And Basketball, Love Jones, and The Five Heartbeats did not receive any Oscar nominations for music despite incredible soundtracks full of great original content.

While an Oscar is an award that usually carries a lot of credibility and honor, the award for Best Original Song is not as prestigious as those given to actors, actresses, directors, and writers. In recent years, the Best Original Song award is usually one that goes to Disney’s children’s movies.

For me, it seemed like the Oscars tried to make a bigger deal of the Selma victory than it really was. The elaborate stage, an abundance of African-American people for the “Glory” performance, and use of Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis seemed like a contrived message by the Academy: “see, we do care about Black people.”

This year, the Oscars had a lot of great performances by actors and directors and great films – Selma included. But in my opinion, the original songs nominated were sub par, “Glory” included. The over hyping of the win seems intended to make people forget the snubbing of Black people for what the Oscars are really about: acting, writing, directing, and filmmaking – not music.

I am glad that John Legend and Common won because it allowed John Legend to make that great speech and call attention to the over incarceration of Black males, continuing the message of King. Still, I am not going to act like their win was a sign of recognition of Black filmmaking by Hollywood or The Academy.

-Casey Gane

Black Excellence: All The Black People Who Have Won Oscars
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