Jay-Z received an honorary Grammy last night, the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, and y’all know the Recording Academy was nervous about platforming Jay-Z and giving him the time to say whatever he wanted. They let him have the time though, and he stood on that stage and called them out – for failing to televise the Rap categories, for marginalizing “urban” music and for failing to recognize his wife in the major categories like Album of the Year.
Jay-Z used his acceptance speech at the 2024 Grammys to call out the organization that honored him with a special award. While accepting the 2nd annual Dr. Dre Global Impact Award — in recognition of his musical legacy — the hip-hop artist, 54, questioned the process behind the voted 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 started. “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.”
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).
“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. JAY-Z’s latest comments echoed ones he made at last year’s Grammys. “The truth is, we grew up wanting to be on the Grammys, and it was our goal. We just want them to get it right. That’s what we want,” JAY-Z said in 2023 of Beyoncé’s Renaissance album, which lost to Styles.
He then called out his daughter, Blue Ivy, who joined him on stage for the award.
“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,” he concluded. “You feel me?”
You could say that Jay-Z is at a point in his career where he can say these things and not be “punished” by the music powers-that-be, but that’s not really the point. The point is that however ass-backwards, however blatantly racist, however blatantly sexist, the Recording Academy and Grammys are still the biggest awards in music and they confer “legitimacy.” Jay walked the line between calling them out and acknowledging that he still wants them to do better for Black artists, because the Grammys actually do matter. It IS ridiculous that Beyonce has never won Album of the Year (she should have won it in 2017, for Lemonade).
Blue is so grown up!! And Beyonce looked like she didn’t even want to be there. That cowboy hat, LMAO!!
Photos courtesy of Getty.
2017 & 2023. Those were the legit robberies. Harry’s House isn’t even his best album.
Agree, she should’ve won both those times.
Yes. She should have won for both of those. It’s unreal that she didn’t.
She absolutely should have won for both. It’s so deliberate like, oh she wins all these other awards so we can withhold this one. Blue looked lovely,
Hard agree on all counts. Fine Line was vastly better than Harry’s House which certainly did not deserve AoTY and I will go to my grave saying that 25 winning over Lemonade was the most egregious Grammy snub of all-time.
I’ll go there with you. And listen I like Adele and her album was so good. But it didn’t even touch what Beyoncé did with lemonade.
Yeah, that “category” quote is gold.
I didn’t get who he was dissing with that, can you explain?
Yeah can someone explain his “category” comment?
When he spoke about “the young lady” I thought he was referencing his daughter and not his wife. It’s so strange to be calling Beyonce a “young lady”, no?
Well according to him she is I guess.
😂😂😂
She’s 12 years younger than him and they got together when she was 19 or 20ish? I’m sure her being a “young lady” to him is all about his ego.
Or hey, maybe he was just trying to sound cute and country about the cowboy hat lol.
The cowboy hat was probably to troll Taylor Swift (lol), expecting that she was gonna get the AOTY award anyway.
@advisor2u Beyonce and Taylor are consistently supportive of each other and have discussed how they aren’t in competition with each other so I doubt Beyonce was trolling her.
He has called her “young lady” many many times in their 20+ year relationship. It goes back to when they first started dating and he wanted to acknowledge her without feeding into the gossip. I imagine it’s somewhat of a public pet reference at this point.
it makes ZERO sense that she has the most Grammys but never won for album of the year.
Jay z has great comedic timing?!
I long ago stopped watching the Grammy’s live. I get the scraps on X. Black folks are consistently denied AOTY. Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce are two such examples. Kendrick Lamar won a Pulitzer for his album Damn after his AOTY snub. Beyonce should have won AOTY for Lemonade or most certainly for Renaissance which showcased marginalized talent as her dances.
Amen, Amen, Amen. It so past heartbreaking at this point for these artists.
THIS. I haven’t watched the show in years. I just read about it after the fact. I do not want to give my viewership to an award that consistently ignores, minimizes, and yet commodifies Black artists. They will snub someone like Beyonce but fall all over themselves to get her to perform because they want the ratings she brings in.
Correct! It is so frustrating to watch the scraps that white institutions give Black artists who continue to move and shape the culture.
Blue looked wonderful. I love her bond with Hov.
I’m a Radiohead/Cure/The Smiths kind of person so Beyonce was never my jam, but as soon as I saw the video for Formation I was blown away. I watched Lemonade in real time on HBO and I just couldn’t believe what she was doing, it was incredible. The music, the lyrics and the visuals were the best things to come out of that year, bar none. It should have won every award possible.
This!!! I’ve also listened to the same few musicians since I was 15 (the likes of Nick Cave, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple) and hip hop is totally not my genre but I thought Lemonade was revolutionary! And I hear all the time at my lily white, European 9 to 5 workplace from even middle aged people how amazing Lemonade was so I don’t believe Grammy people just couldn’t see what everyone else saw, it rather appears intentional.
His speech was on point. There are no lies being told. Blue looked beautiful.
And I know Dre has a checkered past, but I love seeing him too being acknowledged.
When Self Titled in 2013 lost I knew they’d never give her AOTY. I’m not at all surprised her later albums that are even better don’t get the recognition they deserve. And the commentary from the anon Grammy voters that always comes out come off as extremely bitter about Beyoncé’s success. I hope she gets to a place where she doesn’t bother submitting or even showing up cause her legacy is so much more.
Some would say that you can’t dismantle the master’s house with his tools, others accept an award named for a domestic abuser from an abjectly racist organization that consistently rewards mediocrity over artistry.
@Sunday – Well said!
Love you calling in Audre Lorde! I get the criticism of that but aside from building our own spaces, considering so many musically styles are built from and on black creativity(often stolen btw), I don’t know what choices Black artists have.
I wish he hadn’t acknowledged Dre but he really did a ton for Black artists an his larger point was how many categories associated with urban artists have been historically disrespected.
This!
A few years ago, they got quotes from anonymous voters, they didn’t say Beyonce isn’t good enough. They said she had enough awards and they were pissed off by the expectations that she deserved more. They are the same people giving TS her fourth album of the year. No member thinks she had enough.
I can’t qwhite put my finger on why…
Can’t find the comment I was trying to respond to. Jay is one of the most successful rappers of all time, so, yeah, a proven wordsmith. He literally spoke about how nervous he was at the podium. He said what he had to say. We understood it. 🙄
Except he never said they were illegitimate. He recognized that artists are validated by receiving a Grammy and, yeah, legitimized by these awards. But also that people of color are constantly snubbed and made to feel like they don’t derserve the awards. Those are 2 different things.
It’s insane to me that a woman beater has the Grammy’s Global Impact award named after him. Gross.
Yup. Ick Nast.
His speech was the best night of the show. We went back and watched it again before continuing on watching the show because what he had to say was so important and true.
Beyonce has the most grammy’s of any Woman artist ever. She will probably win more. Please stop acting like she’s been deprived of something. She will go down in history as one of the biggest artists or all time. She’s doing not only fine but GREAT.
Of those awards, only ONE is in the main category. That’s the point Jay-Z and SO many other black artists have been trying to make. The Recording Academy considers them good enough for the “urban” categories but rarely ever the main three. There is no excuse for a black female artist not winning an AOTY in 25 YEARS, especially not when there have been so many albums from black women that are clearly superior to albums that did win over the past nearly three *decades*.
But she has been deprived something, she absolutely has. No matter how many Grammys she has won, they continue to deny her a win in the biggest category. And it is not just her, few Black artists have won in that category and many luminaries have been denied. It was an issue pre Beyonce.
And when people tell Black artists to shut up and be grateful when the biggest stages are constantly denied them that is A HUGE PART OF THE PROBLEM. Especially, when their work is arguably more major, and influential and is consistently denied.
These institutions keep telling Black artists that they should be happy with crumbs. That was the point of Hov’s speech, that is why he included the fact that for years the wins in the urban categories weren’t even televised.
PREACH @Sunny.
Agree, Bey has done very well and is very accoladed but that doesn’t mean that she isn’t still underacknowledged for her artistry and what she has contributed to the culture.
I don’t have much more to add to these comments above except to say that YES she has been deprived of something. And she is t the only one, just the most recent egregious example. When her Grammys are all in “urban” categories, whilst being denied the big ones, what you are telegraphing is that she is good enough, for a black singer, but that’s all she is. Her music is urban and for that demographic but it’s not really art for everyone. And when you repeatedly reward mediocre offerings that in no way will stand the test of time over hers, you are reinforcing and driving that point home. So yes, if you create art that is amongst the best and you are passed over for mediocre music that is coincidentally made by the same demographic, you best bet you are being deprived. Steups.
@Mel, you know this comes off as be satisfied with what you have, right? Be content, be grateful, know your place, don’t get …uppity.
Bc you can’t be here in the year 2024, watching Taylor “my boyfriend was mean” Swift get her FOURTH album of the year, the most ever for any artist, when Beyonce has won it never. Not for Self – Titled, not for Renaissance, not for mitherfcking LEMONADE (which won a PEABODY but not gramy AOTY). You’re not seriously here to say it’s fine, Beyonce is fine, she’s already won a lot, chill, without getting that, right?
Look, this has nothing to do with being satisfied. Beyonce remains unbothered because she is the most honored entertainer in Grammy History. She has 32 grammy’s and WILL get more. She IS the Queen and doesn’t needs someone or an award to tell her that, she has the record books. You folks act like she needs validation, she most certainly does not.
@Mel
Do you really think Jay Z spoke up about it because Beyonce is so “unbothered” ?
Just because she hasn’t said anything doesn’t mean it doesn’t bother her.
SZA got robbed. She should have won Album of the year.
The White Women power hour of 2024 is exhausting. White women screaming that Jay-Z was being disrespectful to TS and is just as bad as Kanye are just…..he brought several points that were in fact freaking true. I wish Black artists would just boycott the Grammy’s and let the white people fully take it over. I hope that you all go out and vote for Biden cause I can tell Black people are just about done with this mess. We got people coming at us for DEI, saying we can’t fly planes, kicking out Black women in academia and again and again it’s shown this country isn’t for us.
I like Taylor Swift, but I didn’t think Jay-Z was in any way disrespectful to her. He was speaking the truth — Beyonce absolutely should have won AOTY at least twice by now.
Oh I agree. But the women on Threads and Twitter acted like he was being disrespectful to her and needs to apologize. And some were comparing him to Will Smith. The whole thing was unhinged and I hope a site writes about it. This mess and Barbie has me thinking all of HW is just exhausting as shit and I can see why Issa Rae is over it.
TS made a comment about how academy is listening to the fans while deciding on the winner in one of her acceptance speech. Jay Z’s speech contradicts that, I thinks that’s why some people thought he was shading Taylor. If the academy always listened to the public, Beyonce would have multiple Album of the Year award. They are purposefully going against the fans when it comes to black women according to their anonymous quotes.
@sevenblue but they acted like he pulled a Kanye on her and even somehow threatened her a la Will Smith. It was a poor look that many white women ran with that narrative on social media and once again ignored what Black women and men were saying.
@Walking the Walk, it is because they need TS to be a victim, underdog. She is a billionaire, one of the most powerful people in the music industry, which goes against her relatable, girl next door shtick. A powerful black man is the perfect enemy in their eyes. Jay Z didn’t name any names and Beyonce and him have always been supportive of her, which can’t be said about Taylor when it comes to the successful young talent.
Beyonce was robbed every single time. Even Adele knew it when her name was announced for Album of the Year. It’s why she mentioned Bey in her speech.
His message is probably correct. But it’s ironic that he rants about the poor treatment of a woman while accepting an award named after Dre.
His message was absolutely correct, no question about it and this was a glorious moment; but I agree it’s too bad this award was named after Dre.
Those with no Grammys – in some cases life time achievement awards though – include the Beach Boys, Diana Ross, Bob Marley, Queen, Abba, Jimi Hendrix, Guns ‘n Roses.
Yes, the Grammys miss on a lot of things but still remain important. A long list of people that they screwed over serves no point when the point Hov was making is that they have historically and continue to be particularly dismissive of Black artists. That was the point. The stages we aren’t allowed on except to dance, the recognition continually denied to us and the contributions to the culture when many many musical forms have been rooted in Blackness.
But yeah ok, lots of artists haven’t been given their due.
I will never agree with her not winning for Lemonade. That album was her masterpiece!
She should she won for lemonade no question, though I liked 25 better personally. Lemonade should have won that year.
That being said I found his speech both on point and tacky. I do think the academy should be called out for how artist of color are treated, and disregard. However, it was inexcusable for him to say that some of the people nominated didn’t deserve to be. Even though he’s right it’s disgusting to say on stage. And no as much as the women hating bitter Betties want it to be about Taylor it wasn’t that group respects each other. So it was about one of the other women nominated, and it just wasn’t necessary.
His point about Bey is true, his point about the disrespect of the academy towards black artists is true but the way he did that was not great.
If he had left that part out his speech would have been perfect.
One point of doing away with respectability politics is that you say the things that most people know to be true but keep hush hush for fear of offense. Sometimes (and for some listeners) it lands beautifully. Other times (and for other listeners), it does not.
But it doesn’t remain a shared open secret.
Maybe Jay should also take some time to ask himself hard questions like: Why have I been friends with TWO men who have harmed, abused, SA’d, trafficked young women? What am I missing? How can I do better. What does Clive Davis have to do with this all? How can I make the industry safer for my daughter who we are obviously molding to continue in our tradition?
Cause we just want you to get it right, J.