K Camp Bemoans the Lack of Black Artists that Receive Nominations from Respected Institutions

This year's Academy Awards nominations have caused some dismay among those who feel that African Americans were left out of the running. In fact, not a single African-American actor was nominated for an acting award. This was not an acceptable situation for rapper K Camp.

Despite a strong performance in Creed, Michael B. Jordan received no nomination. Meanwhile, his Caucasian co-star, Sylvester Stallone, was nominated for "Best Supporting Actor."

Although he was widely considered a frontrunner in the race for a "Best Supporting Actor" nomination, Idris Elba received no such recognition for his performance in Beasts of No Nation.

Further, many saw the Oscar's virtual neglect of the box office smash, Straight Outta Compton, as a particularly tough pill to swallow, as the film won many critical plaudits and support from fans. Although Straight Outta Compton was nominated for "Best Original Screenplay," N.W.A. member and producer of the film, Ice Cube, was disappointed with what he considered a snub.

"It is nice to be recognized but N.W.A., you know, was anti-establishment, so we're used to people trying to dismiss what we gotta say," he told host Wendy Williams of the lack of Oscar nominations. "We're used to the industry, really, you know, looking down on us. We were the black sheep of the industry, so we're used to it."

Atlanta rapper K Camp sees the lack of African-Americans in the list of nominations for the prestigious Academy Awards as indicative of a larger pattern of exclusion in American entertainment and critical approval. The rapper recorded a video of himself, which was later obtained by TMZ, in which he bemoaned this disheartening phenomenon. "I aint gon' sit here and play the race card, because I aint gon' call it a racist issue. But us as a Black culture we know what we are getting ourselves into when we get into that other side of the industry," he says in the video. "We got to put in 110 times more work and it still don't get recognized."

Tags

Ice Cube, K Camp, NWA, Straight Outta Compton, Wendy Williams