Jay-Z earned praise from many 2024 Grammy Award viewers for his acceptance speech at the ceremony—but not everyone was impressed.
On Sunday (February 4), the Recording Academy honored Jay-Z with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. While addressing the audience, he criticized the Grammys on behalf of his wife, Beyoncé.
“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady [Beyoncé], but she has more Grammys than anyone and never won Album Of The Year,” Jay said. “So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work.”
The rapper/entrepreneur also mentioned how Hip-Hop artists boycotted the 1989 Grammy Awards in protest of the first rap category not being televised. In addition, Jay-Z talked about boycotting the 1999 ceremony because chart-topping rap star DMX didn’t receive any nominations that year.
Soon after the event aired, veteran journalist Roland Martin expressed disappointment in the Roc Nation founder. Martin took issue with the way Jay-Z handled his call for change at the Grammys, which he discussed on his Roland Martin Unfiltered digital show.
During the Unfiltered segment about the Grammys, Martin pointed out that Killer Mike’s victories this year in the rap categories took place in the un-televised portion of the event. The former TV One host then offered Hov some advice.
“Jay-Z, if you want the Grammys to change, you should’ve said, ‘I will not accept this award nor will I attend until y’all put one of the rap categories on the televised broadcast,” Martin stated. “Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, y’all make it clear, whoever they want to give the award to next year, you make it clear we ain’t showing up unless y’all make the rap album of the year part of the broadcast.”
Roland Martin concluded, “I guarantee you it’s gonna cause some folks to say, ‘We better do it or we’re gonna lose the star power… You pull the star power, ratings go down. When ratings go down, they lose money. We know in America, when they lose money, stuff changes.”