Jay Z goes out of character and blasts Grammys live on stage

MAUREEN WARUINGE ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST

05 February 2024

• The musician opened up on the issues that he has had over the years with the biggest music awards in the world.

Billionaire Jay Z has criticized the Grammys for never giving his wife Beyonce the Album of the Year award.

The rapper on Sunday, Feb 4 during the 66th ceremony while receiving the Dr. Dre Global Impact award on Sunday night, called out the ceremony for snubbing Beyoncé many times.

"When I get nervous, I tell the truth," he began his speech.

During his acceptance speech, Jay-Z discussed how he has always wanted the Grammys to recognize the artists that most influence culture.

“How far we have come with Will Smith, the Fresh Prince winning their first Grammy in ’89 and boycotting because it was not televised,” he said.

Beyonce has won a record 32 Grammy awards, which Jay Z pointed out;

“And then they went to a hotel to watch the Grammys. I don’t even understand, it was not a great boycott. But then in ’98, I took a page out of their book and was nominated for best rap album.

And DMX put out two, they were both number one, and he was not nominated at all. So I boycotted and I watched. I’m just saying, we want you all to get it right.

We love y’all, we love y’all. We want you to get it right — or at least get it close to right. And obviously, it’s subjective, because it’s music and it's opinion-based, but some things…”

At this point, he looked at Beyoncé, his wife, and said, “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. Think about that. The most Grammys never won Album of the Year. That doesn’t work.”

He then doubled down by saying, “When I get nervous, I tell the truth.”