She’s receiving Lifetime Grammy this weekend but why has Diana Ross never been properly appreciated?

The Los Angeles Times has published an absolutely outstanding piece on the legendary career of Diana Ross.

This commentary, written by Ernest Hardy, points out that 12-time Grammy nominee Ross has not only never won a Grammy, she’s also never been given proper credit for achievements and impact on the music industry and the culture.

He provides some compelling reasons why. Here are some excerpts from the piece:

The Grammys aren’t the only place where 67-year-old Ross, a primary architect of modern pop culture over her five-decade career, has been undervalued.

It’s long been fashionable to lampoon her in the media and in critical circles, to dismiss her voice and her trailblazing accomplishments — to cast her in the one-note role of incorrigible diva.

Questlove, drummer and co-founder of the Roots, suggests that the failure to recognize Ross’ achievements is also due to the way art and artists are treated in this country.

“America is such a disposable arts culture,” he says, “that it’s easy to dismiss things, to take them for granted. And I’m one of those guilty people. I have every [Ross] album. I’ve seen every special. But you take it for granted so much that you don’t even mention it.”

Visual artist Mark Bradford observes: “She was a trailblazer who wrote chapter after chapter, who put herself at the center of the conversation and demanded a seat at the table,” he observes. “She didn’t want black power. She wanted power.”

“There’s this thing with women — especially women of color — that when they have ambition, it’s [perceived as] a character flaw” Bradford added. “But Diana Ross would throw it in your face. She didn’t apologize for it. We applaud ambition but on very narrow terms — for a woman, for an African American, and especially for an African American woman — and she ignored all those limited and limiting terms in order to set her own.”