Jay-Z Used His Global Impact Award Acceptance Speech To Air Many Grievances With The Grammys, From Their Treatment Of Hip-Hop To Beyoncé’s Snubs

Jay-Z‘s sense of humor was on full display — for better or worse — during his acceptance speech at the 2024 Grammys as he received the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award alongside his daughter Blue Ivy. While he self-deprecatingly teased himself for being unable to fully boycott the awards show, he also took the opportunity to air out his feelings about the Recording Academy snubbing his wife Beyoncé for Album of the Year for multiple years.

“I don’t wanna embarrass this young lady but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year,” he said. “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 also joked that some of the nominees didn’t deserve their nominations, which… Look, I’ll write that one later. We’ve always known Jay don’t play about Beyoncé, but giving him a mic at this year’s awards may have backfired on those who admitted that they voted against Beyoncé out of spite.

Not for nothing, fans were amused and impressed by the speech because Jay was only saying some things that fans have been saying a good, long while. But, of course, his joking admission that he can’t quit the show completely made him relatable and took some of the sting out of his words.

From the choices of embedded tweets here, you probably know where this writer stands. If not, read this, then check out the rest of our Grammys coverage here.