When Jay-Z went onstage Sunday night to accept the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the Grammys, he was gracious, humble and sincere, thanking Black musicians including Will Smith, Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince for paving the way for musicians like himself in the industry.
At the half-way mark of his speech, he changed tuned and took a swipe at the Recording Academy’s failure to award his wife Beyoncé, a 32-time Grammy winner, with the most prestigious prize at the Grammys: Album of the Year.
“We want you all to get it right,” he said. “We love you all, at least get it close to right. And obviously it’s subjective, because it’s music, it’s opinion-based, 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,” he said, looking at Beyoncé.
“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.”
A few audience members cheered. He continued, addressing the wider crowd.
“Some of you are going to go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may be robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category.”
This last snark garnered the loudest jeers. He responded by saying, “When I get nervous, I tell the truth.”
He ended his speech with some advice, taking hold of his daughter Blue’s hands, who was standing beside him throughout his speech.
“Just in life, you’ve got to keep showing up, forget the Grammys, you’ve 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.”
Users on social media responded to Jay-Z’s speech, with one user writing: “JAY-Z is 100% correct. The fact that Beyoncé has never won Album of the Year for Self-titled, Lemonade, and RENAISSANCE is shameful. The LAST Black woman to win AOTY was Lauryn Hill, and that was over 25 YEARS AGO. The Recording Academy is telling us that no Black woman has created an album worthy of that honor in all this time, and I find that to be very offensive.”
The post garnered over 72K likes.
Beyoncé has been nominated for Album of the Year four times. In 2010, for I Am… Sasha Fierce, in 2015 for Beyoncé, in 2017 forLemonade and last year, for Renaissance.
In 2010, she lost to Taylor Swift’s Fearless. In 2015, she lost again to Swift, this time to her fifth album, 1989. In 2017, the year Lemonade was tipped to be the winner, she lost to Adele, who won for her third album 25.
In her acceptance speech, Adele said, “I can’t possibly accept this award. And I’m very humbled and I’m very grateful and gracious. But my artist of my life is Beyoncé. And this album to me, the Lemonade album, is just so monumental.”
Perhaps Jay-Z’s comments were enlivened by the fact that Taylor Swift won her fourth Album of the Year, for Midnights on Sunday night.
Among the 32 Grammys Beyonce has won, only one award was in a “big four” category: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist. In 2010, Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) won Song of the Year. Most of her wins have been in genre categories, including Best Dance/Electronic Album, Best R&B Performance, Best Music Video and Best Rap Song.
As arguably one of the most iconic and influential experimental and innovative artists of our generation, perhaps Jay-Z had a point when he called out his wife’s lack of recognition in the most coveted award.