LOS ANGELES — Jay-Z was awarded the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the Grammy Awards Sunday night and used his acceptance speech to talk about how his wife, Beyoncé, has won more Grammys than anyone, but still doesn’t have an Album of the Year award.
He also used his speech to talk about the hip-hop greats that came before him. He heavily suggested the Grammys have a history of placing rap on the backburner – or at the very least, not in the televised version of the show. (This year, there were no rap categories on screen, but two pop, one Latin, one country and one R&B.)
“It’s great to have an award from such an icon,” he said, referring to Dr. Dre. “How far we’ve come with Will Smith and them, Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince in 1989, and boycotting because it wasn’t televised, went to a hotel and watched the Grammys. Wasn’t a great boycott.”
He talked about being nominated for best rap album in 1998. It was a year he said DMX had two No. 1 albums, but wasn’t nominated at all. He said he boycotted.
“We want you all to get it right,” he said. “At least get it close to right.”
His attention turned to his wife, Beyoncé.
“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,” he said.
“Some of you are going to go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed," Jay-Z continued. "Some of you may get robbed."
He then said that some artists don't belong in the category, to which he got mixed reaction from the Crypto.com Arena crowd.
"When I get nervous, I tell the truth," he said. "We’ve got to keep showing up."
How many Grammys does Beyonce have?
Beyoncé has 32 Grammy Awards,, most ever by any artist. She’s been nominated 88 times. Four of those nominations were for Album of the Year, according to USA Today, but she never won that honor.
