Watch Jay-Z Drink Out of His Grammy Award After Bold Speech About Beyoncé

Jay-Z

Jay-Z is having quite a night at the 2024 Grammy Awards, after having a major mic drop moment during his now-viral acceptance speech.

The rapper was accepting the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, presented to him by host Trevor Noah—an honor presented to Black music creators who have made notable marks on the industry with their work.

But Jay-Z used his time to call out the Recording Academy, coming to Beyoncé's defense as he criticized the Grammys for never awarding his wife with the awards' top honor: Album of the Year.

He thanked the award's namesake Dr. Dre for "all the doors that [he] opened," also shouting out the Black Music Collective later in his speech, before calling back to the 1989 Grammys, which Will Smith and his musical partner DJ Jazzy boycotted after finding out that the award for Best Rap Performance—a new category at the time—wasn't going to be televised. Almost a decade later, he boycotted the 1998 awards after he was nominated for Best Rap Album but the late DMX failed to garner any noms.

He pleaded with the academy to "get it right...[or] at least get it close to right," going on to call them out for never presenting Queen Bey, who is the most awarded artist in Grammy history, with an Album of the Year distinction.

"...she has the most Grammys [out of] everyone and never won album of the year," he pointed out. "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. Some of you gonna go home and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category,” he said boldly, jokingly blaming his nerves for "tell[ing] the truth."

Many likened his comments to Kanye West, who infamously interrupted Taylor Swift during the 2009 VMAs to call Bey's music video "one of the best videos of all time!” and suggesting that Swift didn't deserve the award she'd just won.

Jay-Z continued, “But outside of that, we 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 genius. Until they call you the greatest of all time.”

After returning to his seat, he was spotted pouring a shot into his Grammy and throwing it back directly from the opening of the prestigious trophy, seemingly unbothered by the reaction to his strong words.

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