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Being one of the greatest and most successful artists of all time allows you some luxuries, like truly speaking your mind at the Grammys when giving an acceptance speech.
At the 2024 Grammys, Jay-Z was honored with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award with his daughter Blue Ivy by his side.
Hov immediately delved into the history of the Recording Academy’s inability to properly award Rap and hip-hop and how some of the pioneers have reacted.
He remembers Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff boycotting the prestigious festivities back in 1989 because the rap awards weren’t televised and doing it himself nearly 10 years later when DMX wasn’t nominated despite dropping his much-acclaimed albums in one year, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot and Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood.
“I’m just saying, we love y’all, we love y’all, we love y’all, and we want y’all to get it right,” Jay-Z said. “At least get it close to right.”
Rap isn’t the only genre Hov feels the Grammys have slighted. He soon turned his attention to his wife, Beyoncé, who has never won what many may consider the night’s most prestigious award: Album of the Year.
“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone and never won Album of the Year,” he said of Beyoncé. “Even by your own metric, that does not work. Think about that, most Grammys, never won Album of the Year, that doesn’t work.”
In typical Jay fashion, he had some jokes as well, saying that art is subjective, but some people aren’t nearly as talented as they may think.
“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,” he said as the audience chuckled. “When I get nervous, I tell the truth.”
Hov then reminds artists who feel they should win certain awards to use the moment of defeat to motivate them to go even harder.
“Just keep showing up,” he added. “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?”
See how social media is reacting to Jay-Z’s moment of honesty below.
