‘DaBaby Boomers’ was the Grammy Awards moment I needed

Last Updated on March 15, 2021 by Kristen

Dababy Boomers

There were not many people over 50 performing at the Grammy Awards last night, but a handful of silver-haired women in black robes stole the show during Da Baby’s performance of his his song Rockstar with Roddy Rich, and it was glorious.

They were not holding back, and it was a mash-up of culture the likes of which the world needs to see more of.

Dababy Booomers

The host of the awards show, Trevor Noah, dubbed them DaBaby Boomers, and Twitter really appreciated that, making comparisons to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Judge Judy, The Golden Girls, “Grammys at the Grammys” and more, and the sentiments were mostly supportive and in good fun.

I appreciated it too.

Confession: I am a dedicated alternative music lover leaning heavily towards rock (really loved Haim’s performance). But lately our 8-year-old daughter has requested that we and Alexa play pop music in the car and at home. Yes it gets cloying and repetitive at times. But I also find my self singing along and dancing, alone and with her and even with my husband who is also finding himself enjoying this genre of music that honestly we both looked down are noses at previously because apparently we are judgmental snobs. But we’re seeing the error of our ways. Dua Lipa is currently a unifying force in our home.

My skin don’t look the same, so I get singled out,” he rapped. “Right now I’m performing at the Grammys, I’ll probably get profiled before leavin’ out. Don’t be in denial like we all even now. Whether you’re in the project or a mansion you’re still a black man when you leave the house.

So it was a sort of full circle moment for me: silver-haired ladies getting down to DaBaby. And I hope it made people think a bit about pigeonholing people for the way they look.

Not everyone was as enthusiastic, apparently, but even the tweets quoted in that article called the performance iconic.

Why judges? First of all I’m not 100% sure they were judges—choir singers wear robes too. But if they were, maybe a nod to DaBaby’s run-in with the law in January? Hopefully if he faces a judge she or he will be as on board with his cause as the singers were last night.

DaBaby also added new, meaningful lyrics to Rockstar: “My skin don’t look the same, so I get singled out,” he rapped. “Right now I’m performing at the Grammys, I’ll probably get profiled before leavin’ out. Don’t be in denial like we all even now. Whether you’re in the projects or a mansion you’re still a black man when you leave the house.”

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