In a climate where political and personal attacks are raining down on all fronts, three of music's biggest superpowers have convened for a discussion geared towards healing.

On Sat., June 25, the GRAMMY Museum, the Recording Academy's Black Music Collective, and MusiCares partnered up with the Universal Hip Hop Museum to host "Hip Hop & Mental Health: Facing the Stigma Together," a Black Music Month panel moderated by Nick Cannon.

A wellness-centered occasion, the open-and-thoughtful conversation featured insights from XYION's Adrian Miller, Family Tree Services' Michael "Blue" Williams and Eric Brooks about the state of mental wellness and healthcare in hip hop, the music industry, and beyond.

When it comes to unpacking unresolved traumas and devising a competent plan of action, there is no more important time than now. Together, we can implement systemic and structural changes to the personal and professional lives of our favorite artists.

With that in mind, here are five things that GRAMMY.com learned from the panel.

A Mental-Health Department Is Needed

To kick off the occasion, Nick Cannon, Adrian Miller, Michael "Blue" Williams, and Eric Brooks called for the music and entertainment industry to institute a mental-health department.

From their perspectives, this would help artists, executives, managers, and staff deal with personal and interpersonal issues.

"Managers are now supplementary family members [to these artists] as we're being there for them in a way that we've never had to do before," said Williams, who served as de facto manager for Outkast, Nas, Macy Gray, and others.

As he continued, record labels put so much money into maintaining the trauma of our favorite stars — but now, they need to invest in their well-being.

Hip-Hop Is An Undervalued American Export

Adrian Miller, the former VP of A&R at Warner Brothers Music Group and an industry leader in artist curation, was asked by host Nick Cannon to talk about how the recording industry profits from trauma.

"The culture is the major cultural export that the world enjoys," Miller said without hesitation. "But [only] the labels know the number of its value — and it is refusing to share."

Overall, the discussion highlighted that hip-hop has consistently been a challenge to those who want to use its voice, its lyrics, and its artists in a negative way.

According to Eric Brooks, the shift of hip-hop culture into mainstream dominance is "unavoidable." This means that more than ever before, compensation needs to be properly given to the creators.

*"Hip Hop & Mental Health: Facing The Stigma Together" at The GRAMMY Museum on June 25, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for the Recording Academy*

Social Media Leads To Mismanagement Of Artists' Expectations

Most artists have a second job in projecting their professional and public lives on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and the like.

And in catering to millions of people with a curated lifestyle full of like-worthy excellence, the panel delved into the extreme highs and lows that music people face — thanks to the pressures caused by social media.

"These artists can easily perform in front of millions of music lovers — but when they get off stage, one tweet can have the power to crush them," said Michael "Blue" Williams. "No one can teach us that [as managers], but we need to [have the resources] to be prepared. 

Despite the hype that comes with the push of a button, there needs to be a new way — through revamped media training or other methods — to ensure that artists' mental health comes first.

We Need To Talk About Burnout — And The Effects Of Trauma

The effects of this thing we call life can affect us greatly when we're alone.

During the "Hip Hop & Mental Health" panel, there was a frank industry-forward conversation about the elephant in the room — burnout — and how to detect it in industry professionals and artists. 

"Artists are in a fight-or-flight mode when it comes to being in this game," said Eric Brooks.. "And there need to be strategies on how to deal with the inner battles that only happen in the mind and body." 

Michael "Blue" Williams — who is no stranger to dealing with high-profile clientele — mentions that what happened to Kanye West and the late Chris Lighty should be an example of what breakdown and the effects of trauma look like.

*Dr. Monique "Dr. Flo" Hedmann speaks at "Hip Hop & Mental Health: Facing The Stigma Together" at The GRAMMY Museum on June 25, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for the Recording Academy*

VIP Attendees Were A Big Part Of The Discussion

When the floor opened up to questions, there was no shortage of hands being raised — showing how crucial the attendees were to this conversation.

Also in attendance were some high-profile mental-health professionals, like JC Hall, LCSW (Hip Hop Therapy), Dr. Monique "Dr. Flo" Hedmann (Hip Hop Public Health), and Nakeya T. Fields, LCSW (Black Mental Health Task Force). 

These parties shared extra insights on how to address the concerns that were brought up during the two-hour-plus chat, and provided a variety of helpful mental health and addiction resources.

All in all, they illuminated how suffering music people can get help — today, and for many years to come.

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Managing your finances can be tricky — and establishing a pathway to financial security over the long haul, even more so. 

The Recording Academy's New York Chapter, in partnership with MusiCares, will host a webinar dedicated to demystifying financial planning as a vehicle for strong estate planning. Hosted by Lynn Gonzalez, Partner, Granderson Des Rochers, LLP, "Build Your Financial Foundations" will provide attendees with tangible takeaways related to managing your portfolio of assets throughout the duration of one's life and career. 

MusiCares and the New York Chapter hope that this financial planning information will encourage attendees to consider simple steps that they can take today to set themselves up for tomorrow. 

"Financial planning is crucial regardless of the business you’re in or whether you have written ten songs or 1000 songs,” says Nick Cucci, Sr. Executive Director for the New York Chapter. "It is the protection of your legacy and we hope that this webinar gives everyone some important advice on making decisions about your future."

The 60-minute webinar is open to all Recording Academy members and will be recorded and viewable on the Recording Academy's Membership YouTube channel as a partner program to the Mind Your Music Business program that MusiCares hosted in 2021. 

 "Build Your Financial Foundations" will be held at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. Register here to attend.

Stay Connected To The Recording Academy With The My Academy Hub App: Access Key Deadlines, View Membership Information, Browse Official Academy Events & More

Since its inception, the Recording Academy has remained committed to inspiring and supporting the next generation of music creators and professionals via ongoing music education initiatives. Now, we're taking that commitment to the next level. 

Today, the Recording Academy proudly launched GRAMMY GO, a new online initiative offering innovative, industry-focused courses tailored for music creators and industry professionals from all backgrounds and experience levels. Launched in partnership with leading online learning platform Coursera, GRAMMY GO is the Academy's first-ever creator-to-creator platform that offers practical courses focusing on real-time industry developments and taught by leading music professionals and creators. 

Geared toward emerging and established members of the industry alike, GRAMMY GO taps into the Recording Academy's esteemed membership base and distinguished creator network to offer users a singular online learning experience informed by current-day industry dynamics. This unique approach sets GRAMMY GO apart from other online learning platforms.

"As an organization that comprises more than 20,000 of the world's most creative music professionals, we feel there is a massive source of knowledge that we believe is part of our mission, as an Academy, to help disseminate," Recording Academy President Panos A. Panay said in an exclusive interview. "We also view it as part of our purpose to use the Academy to help elevate other creatives and help them develop the skills they need to succeed in an ever-evolving industry. We bring a different orientation and a mission-driven purpose to what we're doing with GRAMMY GO."

"We're responding to what the needs are in the moment and across the industry," Jonathan Mahoney, Vice President of Online Learning for Grammy Global Ventures, adds. "We aim to explore the industry's needs, and then we'll build our offerings to answer those needs in real-time. That's one of the key differentiators fueling GRAMMY GO."

GRAMMY GO also accelerates the Recording Academy's ongoing global mission, while also reinforcing its commitment to music education — two core pillars that define the future of the Academy.

GRAMMY GO launches with "Building Your Audience for Music Professionals," a wide-spanning industry course taught by international music/marketing executive Joey Harris and featuring firsthand knowledge from past GRAMMY winners Jimmy Jam and Victoria Monét and 10-time GRAMMY nominee Janelle Monáe. The second GRAMMY GO course, "Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song," launching later this summer, will focus on sharpening technological and audio skills for music producers of all levels. Taught by Howard University professor and GRAMMY nominee Carolyn Malachi, the upcoming specialization will include appearances by GRAMMY winner CIRKUT, three-time GRAMMY winner Hit-Boy, artist and celebrity vocal coach Stevie Mackey, five-time GRAMMY nominee and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr., and 15-time GRAMMY winner Judith Sherman. Enrollment and pre-enrollment for both courses are now open.

In an exclusive interview below, Panay and Mahoney discuss the benefits and vision behind GRAMMY GO and the Recording Academy's year-round mission to bring music education and industry knowledge to creators and professionals around the world.

Learn more about GRAMMY GO and enroll now to the "Building Your Audience for Music Professionals" and "Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song" courses.

Music education is at the core of the Recording Academy's year-round mission. How does GRAMMY GO expand on this core mission?

Panos A. Panay: Learning and community are key components of the Academy. The organization has been dedicated to learning and building communities around learning and creating since its inception. GRAMMY GO is a piece in a puzzle that helps complete the picture. It creates a seamless arc between the offerings and initiatives across the Academy as a whole: from the GRAMMY Museum at the K-12 audiences through GRAMMY U's efforts with emerging professionals and creatives and all the way through the work we do with Advocacy, MusiCares, DEI, the Latin Recording Academy, Membership, and the annual GRAMMY Awards.

GRAMMY GO is now the connective tissue that can create a bridge between all these initiatives across our wider organization. We aim to use it as a platform to both complete the loop and help close any gaps that may have existed. GRAMMY GO is meant to work harmoniously with everything across the Academy so that it collectively makes the organization even more impactful. 

Music creators and professionals already have several online education options available to them. What will set GRAMMY GO apart from these other platforms?

Panay: As an organization that comprises more than 20,000 of the world's most creative music professionals, we feel there is a massive source of knowledge that we believe is part of our mission, as an Academy, to help disseminate. We also view it as part of our purpose to use the Academy to help elevate other creatives and help them develop the skills they need to succeed in an ever-evolving industry.

We are entering the online music education space because we believe that there is often a gap between the more academic-oriented educational platforms that exist and the more practical-oriented knowledge for professionals to develop their careers or, even more importantly, to expand their careers in the industry. Our offerings, as a part of our partnership with Coursera, are geared toward both aspirants as well as professionals who are looking to take the next step in their careers.

The specializations are designed as learning platforms, to be taught by practitioners who are thriving in the music industry on a daily level today. What we're doing is driven by our purpose and the role that we want to be playing in both the industry and society at large as the Recording Academy.

GRAMMY GO on Coursera includes courses taught by Recording Academy members and featuring past GRAMMY winners and nominees. What does this access to the Recording Academy membership and network add to the GRAMMY GO experience?

Jonathan Mahoney: This is the Recording Academy's first creator-to-creator platform. The instructors are people who are thriving in their careers; they're doing it every day. We've got Carolyn Malachi, who's a Howard tenure track professor, but she's also an active producer who's constantly in the studio working. Joey Harris knows intimately how to succeed in the industry. He's taking his real-time knowledge and applying it to the lessons he's passing along. I see GRAMMY GO as a mentorship for and by the music community.

Panay: The Recording Academy is an organization developed by, ran by, and dedicated to the well-being of creatives. Beyond our celebration, advocacy, support, and inspiration for creatives, it's also our job to help give them the toolkits that they need to continue to succeed today. So we're taking that peer-to-peer model and applying it to the creator-to-creator model. 

Tell me more about the GRAMMY GO partnership with Coursera

Panay: Coursera is a leader in the online education space. By joining forces, we're bringing what the Academy does to a broader, global audience. Of all the partners out there, we felt Coursera best reflected our values and our approach and was the best partner for us to activate the mission of the Academy on a global level.

Imagine I'm an emerging artist or industry professional; let's say I'm a GRAMMY U member in college. Now imagine I'm an established member of the industry who's entering the 10th year of my professional career. Is GRAMMY GO for me?

Panay: Yes. I've been in the music business for 30-plus years, and I can tell you: The learning does not stop. When I completed the first GRAMMY GO specialization, there's impactful stuff that I learned. It's easy to put your head down as a professional, and you're working all day, every day. But lift your head up periodically, take stock and ask yourself, "How do I sharpen my skills? How do I invest in my skills so that I can continue to evolve at the highest possible level?" In that sense, we feel absolutely sure what we're developing is applicable to everyone.

Mahoney: We built this content with everyone in mind, including our Recording Academy membership, when we decided to make this our launch offering. We thought deeply about what would be appealing to our members. These initial offerings may work for our members, but at the same time, anyone can benefit from them.

Panay: If you've been a practitioner or a professional in some field, there is always a benefit to having somebody help you think about what you're doing instinctively in a very different way. Especially for creatives, things are so natural to them that they don't always stop to think about their own process. And sometimes you need somebody to help you unlock those different or unexplored perspectives. That's what GRAMMY GO offers.

Everybody can gain from more improvement; nobody is immune to growth. You could be Michael Jordan, but you still have a coach Phil Jackson on the sidelines to help you improve. If you're competitive, then every 1% improvement matters because that's your edge.

GRAMMY GO is like your coach in your pocket.

Panay: I like that.

Talk to us about some of the GRAMMY GO specializations being offered through Coursera. What are some of the future specializations going to focus on? And how are you selecting these forthcoming courses?

Mahoney: We're building content in an agile way so that we're responding to what the needs are in the moment and across the industry. We're taking a hard look at what we're going to build, but also how we're going to build it. We really want to be agile and quick and create valuable content that is also timely. We aim to explore the industry's needs, and then we'll build our offerings to answer those needs in real-time. That's one of the key differentiators fueling GRAMMY GO.

Panay: What distinguishes GRAMMY GO from a traditional academic institution is that we're nimble and we're able to adjust and adapt based on the various market dynamics that we, as the Recording Academy, have a front-row seat at witnessing. That's our approach: How do we use our immersion into the industry as a great gauge for the skill gaps that may exist? And how do we quickly move to fill that gap by tapping into our Academy membership?

Right now, there is complete equality around talent distribution yet complete asymmetry around the skills that are needed to help that talent reach its highest possible level. Our mission as an organization focuses on embracing and elevating all creators, irrespective of who they are, what language they speak, what passport they carry, or what music they perform.

What are some of the most valuable lessons or takeaways that users will learn from GRAMMY GO?

Mahoney: The "Building Your Audience" course is about finding your authentic self, building your brand identity around that authentic self, and figuring out who are your comparable inspirations and taking their lessons and teachings to use in your practice. 

With the "Music Production" offering, the lessons will vary for each user. If you're a beginner or completely new to music production, you're going to come away with the knowledge to be able to cut your first track. The whole goal of the "Music Production" offering is that you start out with nothing and you end up with a demo track that you can release or socialize. Now, if you are coming in as an intermediate and you've done something in the past, you'll focus on refining your craft, making it better, and enhancing it to the next level.

Panay: No matter who you are, no matter where you are — both in your journey or even your geographic location — you will get access to practical skills and impactful knowledge; there is something there that's worth investing your time and energy on. Learn as much as you want, learn on your own time, learn for however long you have, whether it's five minutes or five hours or five days. These offerings will take you from wherever you are in your journey to the next level.

Stay Connected To The Recording Academy With The My Academy Hub App: Access Key Deadlines, View Membership Information, Browse Official Academy Events & More

The Recording Academy has appointed Adam Roth as Executive Vice President of Global Partnerships & Business Development, effective immediately. In this role, Roth will be responsible for growing the Recording Academy's global footprint internationally through the development and negotiation of high-impact integrated partnership programs with both globally recognized brands and local, on-the-ground sponsors. Additionally, Roth will create new IP and build business around existing IP as a method for creating new global revenue opportunities for the Academy. Roth will also develop results-driven programs for the Recording Academy's GRAMMY Awards season sponsors and create the strategic planning and sales strategy for developing new business and revenue opportunities.

"We are thrilled to have Adam as our EVP of Global Partnerships & Business Development," said Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. "Throughout his tenure, Adam's unwavering dedication and foresight have consistently delivered remarkable results for our organization. As the Academy continues its work serving music and its creators around the world, I am confident that Adam's new roles will continue to steer our business development to allow our work to expand in exciting, new ways."

Roth previously served as Senior Vice President of Partnerships & Business Development for the Recording Academy, using his deep network of industry relationships across the arts, fashion, music, entertainment, and technology industries to create 360 deals to drive new business across all entities of the Recording Academy, including MusiCares, GRAMMY Museum, and The Latin Recording Academy.

Prior to joining the organization in 2019, Roth served as vice president of strategic partnerships for the not-for-profit, membership-based trade organization Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). In this role, he was responsible for bringing the CFDA and the fashion industry at-large into high-profile arenas to promote both the organization and its membership to new audiences. His accomplishments while at CFDA include creating the first-ever MTV-CFDA Fashion Vanguard Award for the MTV VMAs and implementing key marketing initiatives with the NFL for Super Bowl 50 and Google. He also spent seven years at Condé Nast, where he was in charge of developing custom programs for luxury advertising partners across their men's, women's, travel, and home brands.

Roth was named Condé Nast Marketer of the Year in 2008 of the Quarter in 2011. He also spent three years as a founding member of the New York LGBT Center's Business Mentorship program for youth ages 13-22. He holds an associate's degree from Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland.

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The Recording Academy is thrilled to announce the launch of the My Academy Hub mobile app, the official app for members of the Recording Academy and the Latin Recording Academy. Enabling easy access to all your membership information and key resources, the My Academy Hub app is the ultimate tool for managing your Academy membership from anywhere, anytime — right at your fingertips. Plus, the app is the best way to stay connected to your Academy community. 

Download the My Academy Hub app in the App Store and Google Play.

Benefits of the My Academy Hub app include:

• Receive Timely Notices: Stay up-to-date on important alerts and news from the Recording Academy and Latin Recording Academy.

• Access Key Deadlines: Never miss a deadline for GRAMMYs submissions, GRAMMY voting, or other important events.

• View Your Membership Details: View your membership status, type, expiration date, and more.

• Browse Your Benefits: Access exclusive discounts, member perks, and more member benefits right from the app.

• Events: Browse and register for upcoming Recording Academy and Latin Recording Academy official events.

Your in-app journey will be tailored to reflect your affiliation with either the Recording Academy or the Latin Recording Academy. In the case of dual membership, the default view will be the Recording Academy dashboard, with the flexibility to seamlessly switch to the Latin Recording Academy dashboard as needed. The Latin Recording Academy experience supports English, Spanish and Portuguese.

The My Academy Hub app also brings the Recording Academy dashboard right to your fingertips and triggers push notifications announcing the latest Recording Academy news and updates, including key deadlines and updates to the GRAMMY Awards process. You can also update your Academy member information seamlessly and keep your privacy safe via a biometric login.

Plus, keep an eye out for product function updates. 

Download the My Academy Hub app at the App Store and Google Play today to stay connected to your community at the Recording Academy and Latin Recording Academy.

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