Jay-Z has been quiet of late. He’s taken an extended break from music, grown out his hair, and leaned into the dad thing. He seems… zen. Happy. So, it was a bit of a surprise to see him pop up at the 2024 Grammys – where he and his wife Beyoncé have historically been snubbed in the major categories – to accept a made-up award that no one seemed to know he was getting.
But, picking up the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award (told you, made up) with his daughter Blue Ivy by his side for moral support, he proceeded to deliver the best speech of the night, in which he addressed the awards show’s spotty history with Black art, criticise the controversially anonymous voting body and explain why he and Beyoncé keep on showing up year after year.
He kicked things off with a sincere hat-tip to Dre himself for blazing a trail in the music industry for rap music. “When you came out west you took it to a whole new level,” he said. “Put us on covers, Rolling Stone, put us around the world, you and Snoop.” But then, he was all business, directing his attention to a long history of snubs. He joked about Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff’s “boycott” of the 1989 ceremony, which they sat out because the rap categories weren’t televised (and still aren’t). “They went to a hotel and watched the Grammys. It wasn’t a great boycott.” He mentioned his own boycott in 1998, orchestrated because of the Recording Academy failing to nominate DMX.
And then he went for it, addressing his wife’s plight at the Grammys over the years: “We love y’all, we love y’all, we want you to get it right. At least get it close to right. I don’t want to embarrass this young lady [addressing Beyoncé] but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work.” Beyoncé has, remarkably, lost the Album of the Year prize on four separate occasions to Harry Styles, Adele (who acknowledged in her speech that it was the wrong decision), Taylor Swift and… Beck. Yep.
But unlike the likes of Drake and The Weeknd, who have both stopped submitting their music for Grammys consideration, Beyoncé keeps showing up. This, Jay-Z explained, is a long game. It’s unfettered determination. And, to be fair, they have 56 Grammys between them.
“We gotta keep showing up,” he said. “And forget the Grammys for a second, just in life. You’ve got to keep showing up. 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 would hope his shots will have resonated with the decision-makers at the Recording Academy, but many have tried and failed before him to get them to see the error of their ways. Still, it was highly entertaining to see him speak so frankly, calling out the much-criticised siphoning of Black artists into “Urban”, “R&B” and “Rap” categories. “Some of you don’t belong in the category,” he said, which drew a big laugh.
As he joked at said at one point with a smile: “When I get nervous I tell the truth.”
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
