At the 66th Grammy Awards, Jay-Z was honored with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. After accepting the award from host Trevor Noah, Jay-Z seized the moment to slam the Grammys, mentioning Beyoncé’s repeated snubs for the top honor over the years. Jay-Z went into a rant about the allegedly flawed voting at the prestigious music awards.
Trevor Noah, along with Jay-Z’s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, were present on the stage during his rant against the Grammys. Noah was nervously chuckling throughout this speech. However, there was a moment during the speech when the host’s expression changed to one of shock.
Jay-Z’s Slammed The Grammys For Beyoncé’s Top Honor Snub
At last year’s Grammys, Beyoncé set the record for the most number of Grammy wins with a total of 32 awards. However, it is notable that she has never won the top honor of Best Album of the Year, for which she was nominated four times. Her recently popular album, Renaissance, was nominated in 2023 but lost to Harry Styles‘ album, Harry’s House.
Jay-Z decided to raise this issue when he went on stage to receive his Grammy honor. He questioned the behind-the-scenes process that determines the winners. The Renegade singer acknowledged the subjective nature of the awards but expressed a desire for the Grammys to get their winners right, or at least come close.
Blue Ivy joins Jay-Z on-stage to accept the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the 2024 #Grammys pic.twitter.com/H87XxdAoN8
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 5, 2024
He mentioned the “young lady” who has amassed more awards than everyone but has never won the album of the year. Jay-Z did not explicitly mention the Crazy in Love singer by name. The rapper highlighted that even by the Grammys metrics, Beyoncé’s snub for the top honor was not justified. He shared (via THR):
“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.”
The Blue Magic singer was also vocal against the Grammys when the Halo singer lost the award last year. During an interview with Tidal, his media company, Jay-Z, shared that the prestigious awards were a dream for many artists while growing up. He shared that their only expectation was for the awards to “get it right.”
Jay-Z’s Dig At ‘Some’ Artists Shocked Trevor Noah
Jay-Z continued his speech by addressing the artists in the audience. He shared that some of them might be going home feeling that they’ve been robbed of an award, and some of them may actually get robbed. The Song Cry singer’s next dig at some artists even shocked the host Trevor Noah.
Jay-Z said, “Some of you don’t belong in a category. No… When I get nervous, I tell the truth.” Noah’s jaw dropped at this comment from the rapper.
However, he then shared a message to all artists, particularly his daughter Blue Ivy Carter. He urged the artists to keep showing up until they get all the accolades they deserved. The billionaire singer’s motivational words were received with applause from the crowd of artists, including his wife, Beyoncé. Jay-Z shared:
“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?”
Jay-Z is not too far behind Beyoncé in the number of Grammy awards, as he has won 24 awards for his work in music. He also has the most Grammys for a hip-hop artist, tied with Kanye West.
