Jay-Z chastised the Grammys for failing to award his wife Beyoncé Album of the Year.
The ’99 Problems’ hitmaker accepted the Dr. Dre Global Impact award at Sunday’s (04.02.24) gala and urged the Recording Academy to get their honor straight, reflecting on what he saw as huge snubs in the past.
Joined on stage by his 12-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, he added, “How far we’ve come since Will Smith and The Fresh Prince won their first Grammy in 1989 and boycotted because it wasn’t televised.”
“Then they went to a hotel to watch the Grammys.” I don’t understand; it wasn’t a fantastic boycott.
But then in ’98 I took a page out of their book and was nominated for Best Rap Album. And DMX put out two, they were both number one, and he was not nominated at all, so I boycotted and I watched.
“I’m just saying, we want you all to get it right. We love y’all, we love y’all. We want you to get it right, or at least get it close to right. And obviously, it’s subjective, because it’s music and its opinion-based, but some things…”
But then, in 1998, I followed in their footsteps and received a nomination for Best Rap Album. And DMX released two number-one albums and received no nominations, so I boycotted and watched.
“I’m simply saying, we want everyone to get it correctly. We adore you all. We want you to get it right, or as near as possible. Although music is subjective and opinion-based, there are certain aspects that stand out.
He then looked over at his wife and said: “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone, number one album of the year. So even by that own metric it does not work. Think about that, most Grammys, never won Album of the Year, that does not work.
“Some of you are going to go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category. All right. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, that was it, no.
“When I get nervous, I tell the truth.”
