J Balvin calls out Latin GRAMMYs: they ‘don’t value us, but they need us’

 J Balvin  thinks his fellow reggaeton and urban artists deserve more respect.

Earlier today, the Latin Recording Academy announced all of the nominees for the 2021 Latin GRAMMYs. While J Balvin received multiple nominations, he took to Twitter to share his thoughts about the ceremony, saying his genre of music isn’t valued like it should be. 

“The Grammys don’t value us, but they need us,” he wrote in Spanish. “It is my opinion and nothing against the other genres because they deserve all the respect. But the trick is already boring.”

Balvin continued, “We give them ratings but they don’t give us respect. (PS I’m nominated so they don’t come because I’m hurt) JOSE.”

He went on to tweet once again with a call to action for his fellow artists, telling them not to go to the ceremony in an effort to bring about change in the industry.

“Those with power in the genre NONE SHOULD GO !!” the “AGUA” artist wrote. “That is all of us, because we are a movement.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time J Balvin or his fellow reggaetoneros have spoken out against the Latin GRAMMYs, previously pointing out the inequalities between their recognition and that of other genres.

Back in 2019, Balvin, Nicky Jam, Natti Natasha, Karol G, Bad Bunny, and more took to social media to post the same message: “Without reggaeton, there’s no Latin Grammys.”

Though Daddy Yankee was nominated that year, he still had a problem with the lack of urban recognition and spoke out accordingly.

“Despite being nominated, I don’t agree with the way they treated the genre and a lot of my colleagues,“ he wrote at the time. “Remember one very important thing: Their platform was not the one that created this movement. This goes beyond a prize. This is culture, credibility, relevance, and RESPECT.”

The artists that called out the Latin GRAMMYs in 2019 did so for not nominating artists from their genre in major categories such as Record, Album, or Song of the Year. This year, Bad Bunny’s El Último Tour Del Mundo is nominated for Album of the Year--but the reggaeton representation is still lacking.

We’ll have to wait and see if other artists follow in J Balvin’s footsteps to speak out against the Latin GRAMMYS once more.