During February 4th’s Grammy Awards, Jay-Z had an unusual type of service announcement to make to the public. He severely criticized the Recording Academy for the decisions it has taken over the previous years. He particularly pointed out the treatment it meted out to Beyonce and the category of album of the year. The rapper, who is now 54 years old, received the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. This was an award that was introduced in 2023 as a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the hip-hop genre.
Jay-Z Did Not Mince His Words At The Grammys
While accepting the speech, Jay-Z gave a speech that covered a wide variety of topics. During it, he recalled DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith’s boycott of the awards during the 1988 award show. He even mentioned the time he boycotted the award in 1998 as well, after being nominated for best rap album. He said that, in 1998, there were two albums dropped by DMX, and both had made it to number one. However, the Grammys did not nominate either of them. This had made him boycott the ceremony that year, and only watch from home. Jay-Z explained that he mentioned this so that the officials “get it right”.
The criticism dished out by Jay-Z on the biggest night of the music continued. The singer, who has won 24 Grammys in his career, then mentioned Beyonce, R&B superstar, and his wife. He said that he had no intention of embarrassing her, but she had the highest number of Grammys and yet, never received the album of the year awards. As he spoke, the cameras took the chance to show Beyonce standing as part of the audience. Last year, her “Renaissance” won her the best dance/electronic album taking her tally to 32 – the highest in all time.
