Reputation Sometimes Beats Quality

One step forward, two steps back.

That young talents such as D’Angelo and Brandy were nominated for top awards in the R&B; categories suggested that Grammy voters finally had conceded to the cutting edge. But the predictable wins by Stevie Wonder (R&B; song and male vocal) and Anita Baker (female R&B; vocal) for songs that are mediocre by those artists’ own standards demonstrate that reputation rather than quality is often the deciding factor in the final balloting.

TLC’s wins for best R&B; album (“CrazySexyCool�) and best R&B; group vocal performance (“Creep�) and Babyface’s producer of the year nod recognize the versatile Atlanta sound that dominates R&B.; “CrazySexyCool� continues to climb the charts, and TLC also contributed a key track to Babyface’s brilliant “Waiting to Exhale� soundtrack.

Both albums prove that it’s possible to make imaginative records that don’t completely shatter current conventions. Babyface’s latest Grammy cements his position as the heir to the producer-entrepreneur throne currently occupied by Quincy Jones.

On the rap side, the East Coast scored victories with deserving wins by Naughty by Nature for rap album (“Poverty’s Paradise�) and Method Man (with Mary J. Blige) for group performance on “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By.�

Accepting his award for rap solo performance for “Gangsta’s Paradise,� L.A.’s Coolio called for a unification of the hip-hop nation and an end to stylistic rivalry, using his time in the spotlight to bring his musical family together the same way “Paradise�--the first hard-core rap single ever nominated for record of the year--unified the listening public. That made his win, and his pop moment, that much more meaningful.