Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter accepted the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards in Los Angeles, California. The Brooklyn-born billionaire is the second act to receive the lifetime achievement award, following the honor’s namesake, Andre “Dr. Dre” Young. It is his first GRAMMY Award since 2021 and his 25th win overall.
“How far we have come with Will Smith, The Fresh Prince winning their first Grammy in ’89 and boycotting, because it was not televised,” Jay-Z told the crowd of entertainers, entrepreneurs and influencers.
“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.”
Jay-Z accepted the award alongside his daughter and GRAMMY Award winner Blue Ivy Carter. Standing in the crowd, his wife, Beyoncé, watched as her husband went from giving thanks to those closest to him to pointing out the failure’s of the award ceremony.
“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 its opinion-based, but some things,” he said.
“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone, number one album of the year. So even by that metric it does not work. Think about that, most Grammys, never won album of the year, that does not work.”
Despite receiving 88 nomination throughout their illustrious careers, Jay-Z nor Beyoncé have ever taken home the ceremony’s top prize — Album of the Year. With that said, the Recording Academy does have an opportunity to turn the tide. SZA’s S.O.S is nominated alongside heavy hitters like Taylor Swift’s Midnights and Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts. If she is able to take home the prize, it would be the first R&B album to win the award in nearly 20 years. Furthermore, she’d join an exclusive collection of only 11 Black artists to win Album of the Year honors.
