Jay-Z got candid about his thoughts on the Recording Academy during his acceptance speech at the 2024 Grammys.
On Sunday (February 4), Jay-Z received the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
The music mogul was accompanied by his daughter, Blue Ivy, who joined him onstage to accept the award, and Beyoncé, who applauded his achievement from the audience.
Jay-Z started his acceptance speech by thanking Dr. Dre for paving the way for Black artists in the music industry. However, Hov went on to call out the Grammys for historically not “getting it right” when it comes to doling out awards for Black musicians.
The Global Impact Award winner pointed out how the Grammys declined to televise the moment that iconic hip duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince won the first-ever award for Best Rap Performance in 1989. Jay-Z went on to address how DMX wasn’t nominated for his work in 1998, so the mogul chose to boycott the Grammys when he won the award for Best Rap Album that year.
“We want y’all to get it right. At least get it close to right,” Jay-Z said during his speech, seemingly taking aim at the Recording Academy.
While Jay-Z recognized that music is “subjective,” he called out the Recording Academy for not following its own “metrics” when it comes to his wife. His comments came after Beyoncé broke the record for the most Grammys ever won by a single act at last year’s ceremony. Bey has yet be to awarded Album of the Year, which is considered to be the event’s most coveted award.
“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,” Jay-Z said in his speech.
“Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category,” he told the audience at the 2024 Grammys, noting “When I get nervous I tell the truth.”
Jay-Z ended his speech by saying, “You got to keep showing up until they give you all those accolades you think you deserve.”
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