On Monday night, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' mega-hit "Uptown Funk" took home two Grammys for "Record of the Year" and "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance." Trinidad James' hit, "All Gold Everything," was interpolated on the hook, which made him a credited contributor on "Uptown Funk." Despite being credited on the song and attending the Grammys on Monday night, Trinidad didn't actually win an award, according to a rep for the Recording Academy. The rep confirmed to Complex that because "Uptown Funk" won for "Record of the Year" and "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance," only the performers and producers of the song actually won a Grammy. "Songwriters do not share in the nomination or win for a GRAMMY award in a record of the year," the rep told Complex via email.
To clarify, if the track had won the award for "Song of the Year" instead, Trinidad would have been awarded a Grammy because everyone involved in the making of the song wins in that category. It's a confusing process that few outside of the actual Grammys understand. Trinidad has been getting all kinds of love on Twitter since Monday night, and even talked about winning a Grammy in an interview this week. Although Trinidad's part of the song played a major role in the massive success of "Uptown Funk," he doesn't actually win a Grammy for his efforts.
However, Trinidad's name is attached to one of the biggest hit songs in recent memory, and he brought in some major money from the success of the song. According to a Billboard report from July, Trinidad gets an eight percent cut from the profits of the song, and has earned around $150,000 since the release. So while Trinidad doesn't actually have a Grammy for "Uptown Funk," he's still making well-deserved money for his contributions on the song. We've reached out to Trinidad's camp for comment, and are waiting on a response.
