Jay-Z’s speech at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards broke the Internet, with many artists supporting the rapper. Jay-Z called out the Recording Academy’s snubs against his wife, Beyoncé, during the award on Sunday, February 4, 2024, in a speech that sent the media into a frenzy.
The famous rapper drew attention to Black artists’ lack of recognition at the esteemed award show. Following Jay-Z’s speech, several Black artists have drummed support for him, agreeing with the speech. Also, Greg Carr, associate professor of Afro-American studies at Howard University, agreed with the rapper.
Carr says they built the music industry on exclusion. “Once exclusion was no longer an option, the inclusion of Black music has been curated,” he says. “At least historically, very carefully, to absorb that music while minimizing black people.”
During Jay-Z’s acceptance speech for the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award on Sunday, he highlighted this lack of acknowledgment. “We love y’all. We want y’all to get it right,” Jay-Z said. “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone and never won album of the year.”
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“So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work,” he added, hinting that they have been snubbing Beyoncé. Beyoncé is the most decorated artist in Grammy history. She secured that title in 2023 after four big wins, including the award for best dance/electronic album for “Renaissance.”
However, many fans felt the Academy slighted her in the Album of the Year category for the highly acclaimed project. According to reports, no Black woman has earned that award in 25 years. Consequently, fans and critics questioned the Academy, asking if no Black woman has made an album worthy of the award in over two decades.
“I don’t read Jay-Z as speaking up just for Beyoncé,” says Adriane Lentz-Smith. Lentz-Smith is an associate professor of history and African and African American studies at Duke University. She stated that the rapper called out the Grammys for a pattern of “underplaying” Black artists and advocating for them.
Beyonce has earned nominations for Album of the Year four times, for “Renaissance,” “Lemonade,” “Beyoncé,” and “I Am… Sasha Fierce.” However, she didn’t win any. “The Beatles aren’t Black; Elvis wasn’t Black; Bob Dylan wasn’t Black,” Carr says.
“But the influence of Black people allowed for the incorporation of Black musical style without Black people.” Since its inception in 1957, the Grammy Awards has faced several accusations of racial bias. According to Lentz-Smith, it’s part of a history of not appreciating African Americans’ innovations in popular music. She said it’s not the first time people have called out the Grammys.
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“It’s not the first time they’ve been called upon to self-correct, and they haven’t quite gotten there yet.” In recent years, the show has been tagged #GrammysSoWhite, and Black artists protested by not attending. Like Jay-Z, many celebrities have called out the award show for its mistreatment of Black artists.
In 2016, rapper/singer Frank Ocean boycotted the Grammys and didn’t submit his music as a statement in response to this problem. Regarding Album of the Year, not only has the most decorated artist not won the category, as Jay-Z highlighted. Only 11 Black artists have won the category to date.
The last Black woman to win the award was singer/rapper Lauryn Hill. She won the category in 1999 for her debut solo album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” While Beyoncé has received multiple nominations in the category, she hasn’t won once.
SZA and Janelle Monae were among the nominees this year. However, Taylor Swift won the award, the first artist to win four times. Hence, Lentz-Smith says Jay-Z calling out the Grammys “isn’t an attempt to detract or take something away from other artists.”
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