Lily Allen says Brit Awards ignored grime because industry figures are scared

Lily Allen (pictured) reckons she knows why Skepta, Stormzy and Jme were left out of this year's Brits nominations.

Despite a mega 2015 for grime, in which Stormzy hit number 18 with his unsigned 'WickedSkengman 4' freestyle, the genre is nowhere to be seen in this year's award categories and Allen claims the music industry's afraid of the artists' independence.

NME reports that she wrote on Facebook: "[They] are all unsigned artists, who would gain from them winning anything? In fact them being nominated or even winning poses a direct threat to 'music industry figures'. Imagine Skepta or Stormzy won, who would they thank in their speeches, who's ego would get massaged?"

She also added that, because the voting is carried out by "1000 music industry figures", it's not always the music that's at the forefront of their minds.

"Music industry figures don't necessarily care about music, they mostly care about themselves. They vote tactically for their label's artists to win or so that their competitors at other labels don't.

"Awards mean £££ and promotions. I don't think music industry figures (or people that work at major labels) even look at artists as artists when it comes to voting for these things."

Stormzy didn't hide his frustration, either, speaking to Radio 1 and saying the Brits' ignorance towards grime was "such a shame", even calling out the awards on new freestyle 'One Take'.

Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor, follow him on Twitter here