Jay-Z calls out Beyoncé's repeated Album of the Year snubs at the Grammys

"I'm just sayin', we want y'all to get it right."

He’s got 99 problems, and the Grammys are one.

Jay-Z won the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, and called out the Recording Academy for failing to recognize his wife, Beyoncé, with Album of the Year.

“I’m just sayin’, we want y’all to get it right,” the “Hard Knock Life” rapper said. “We love y’all… at least get it close to right. And obviously it’s subjective — y’all don’t gotta clap at everything — obviously it’s subjective because it’s music and it’s opinion based. But some things you know… I don’t wanna 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.”

US rapper Jay-Z accepts the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award on stage during the 66th Annual Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 4, 2024.
Jay-Z at the Grammy Awards.

VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images

“Think about that,” he repeated. “The most Grammys, never won Album of the Year. That doesn’t work.” 

Beyoncé has been nominated for Album of the Year four times, but has lost each time she has been nominated: first to Taylor Swift, then to Beck, then to Adele, and finally to Harry Styles. She currently holds the record for the most Grammy wins in history with 32.

Jay-Z went on to cheekily mock the intense emotions that Grammy losers sometimes endure. “Some of you are gonna go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed,” he said. “Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category. Nah nah, when I get nervous I tell the truth.”

Beyonce and Jay-Z attend the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z.

Kevin Mazur/Getty

The rapper ended his speech with a resounding call to persevere. “We gotta keep showing up. And forget the Grammys for a second, just in life. As my daughter sits and stares at me, nervous as I am,” he said, clutching his daughter Blue Ivy’s hand. “Just in life, you gotta keep showing up, forget the Grammys, you gotta keep showing up. Until they give you all those accolades you think you deserve, until they call you a chairman, until they call you a genius, until they call you the greatest of all time. You feel me?”

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