For an awards ceremony that has consistently prided itself on awarding only the blandest artists and presenting the driest, most sober banter, last night's Brits arrived with a certain level of trepidation that very nearly felt like excitement.This was the year when they had widened their voting panel to include people who weren't just old, straight white dudes. To that end, maybe Rag 'n' Bone man wouldn't take home all the awards for that one song he did. Maybe Skepta or Kano would finally get their dues after years of, y'know, pioneering an entire genre. Maybe some awards would go to people who are alive. Maybe the BRITs would finally acknowledge black British talent. Maybe this would be the show's best year ever! Maybe it'd be like 2000 all over again!It certainly looked that way for a hot second. Skepta, Kano and Stormzy were all nominated for awards – which makes sense, considering they are the leading figureheads of grime, our biggest and most important musical export since Britpop. Nao, Lianne La Havas, Craig David and Michael Kiwanuka were also up for awards, which was a welcome progression from last year, in which the entire list of British nominees – entire list, bar the international category – were white, and mainly men, or dead.Read the rest over on Noisey.