Amidst Nigeria’s loss at the 66th Grammy Awards ceremony, Jay-Z, a popular hip-hop icon, used his acceptance speech for winning the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award 2024 to call out the organisation that honoured him with the award.
Upon receiving the second annual Dr. Dre Global Impact Award acknowledging his musical legacy, the 54-year-old hip-hop artist raised concerns about the voting process for certain categories.
“We want y’all to get it right. At least getting close to right. And obviously, it’s subjective. Y’all don’t gotta clap at everything. Obviously, it’s subjective because, you know, it’s music and it’s opinion-based,” the artist said.
“But, you know, some things… I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. The most Grammys never won album of the year. That doesn’t work,” he stated.
While he didn’t mention the “young lady” by name, he appeared to be referring to his wife Beyoncé, who has been nominated for album of the year four times and never won. Beyoncé was up for best new artist in 2010 (losing to Taylor Swift), 2015 (losing to Beck), 2017 (losing to Adele), and 2023 (losing to Harry Styles), although she has 32 Grammy Awards to her name, the highest anyone has ever won. He went further to invite his daughter, Blue Ivy, to join him on stage.
“You know, some of you gonna go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in a category. No, when I get nervous, I tell the truth,” he added.
“Outside of that, you know, we got to keep showing up and forget the Grammys for a second, just in life. As my daughter just sits and stares at me, nervous as I am. Just in life, you got to keep showing up. Just keep showing up. Forget the Grammys; you got to keep showing up until they give you all those accolades you feel you deserve. Until they call you chairman, until they call you a genius, until they call you the greatest of all time, you feel me?” he finished with a question.
The cameras then shifted to the audience, capturing Beyoncé applauding.
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