Jay Z Criticizes The Grammys During Acceptance Speech for Never Awarding Beyoncé 'Album of the Year' "We want y'all to get it right!"

Jay Z & his daughter, Blue Ivy. Photo/Instagram/Getty

Jay Z criticized the Grammys for never awarding Beyoncé the 'Album of the Year' award. While accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award alongside his daughter Blue Ivy, he used his moment to reminisce about different times artists have been overlooked and snubbed during the Grammys; he started by thanking Dr. Dre, "Andre Young, thank you, Sir, all of the doors that you opened, you know, showed us that we could be rock stars, seeing you on the Rolling Stone. He also praised the legendary hip-hop group Run-D.M.C., "Obviously there's Run-D.M.C with the leathers and Aerosmith." 

Before speaking on Beyoncé's slight, Jay Z reminded the audience of when Will Smith's group (DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince) boycotted the awards ceremony when winning a Grammy in 1989. Jay also recalled a time he boycotted the ceremony in 1998 when he was nominated for an award, but a fellow rapper was overlooked; "I was nominated for best rap album, and DMX had dropped two albums that year; they both were number one, (shout out to DMX), and he wasn't nominated at all, so I boycotted...Jay continued, We want y'all to get it right! We love y'all, we love y'all...At least get it close to right, and obviously, it's subjective because it's music and it's opinion-based. He continued without mentioning Beyoncé by name, stating, "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!" 

Beyoncé and Jay Z. Photo/Instagram/Getty

The rap icon closed out his speech by reminding everyone to be tenacious in life, "Outside of that, you know, we got to keep showing up and forget the Grammys for a second. Just in life... Forget the Grammys—you got to 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," he concluded. "You feel me?"   

Beyoncé has 32 Grammys, more than any other artist. Last year, her album, "Renaissance," lost Album of the Year to Harry Styles. She wasn't nominated for any work at the 2024 Grammys.

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