Popular American rap/hip- hop artiste and several Grammy winner, Drake was one of five nominees for Best Rap Album, for “Certified Lover Boy,” and for Best Rap Performance, for his song “Way 2 Sexy” (featuring Future and Young Thug).
He had acted in like manner in 2017, when he
declined to submit his album “More Life” for any 2018 Grammy awards, even
though it qualified; the rancor around that year’s show intensified after Jay-Z
won no awards despite being nominated for eight.
This year, the Recording Academy, the
organization behind the awards, made changes to the nomination process
for the first time, making room for more nominees in each category. Grammy
nominations must be submitted by a representative, usually the artist’s record
label, and if an artist does not want their music considered, the label simply
doesn’t submit it. The decision to remove a nomination at this late stage after
it has been submitted and announced, let alone on the day the ballots are
posted may be unprecedented. As Drake and his management have said no word as
to why they actually too this decision in the latest of time.
Drake’s choices of nominations were unusual,
however. While it is uncertain whether he chose not to submit the blockbuster
“Certified Lover Boy” or any songs from it for the big categories Album, Song
or Record of the Year, his absence from any of those categories on even the
preliminary ballot distributed to voters, which includes thousands of releases,
seems to suggest that he did not. He clearly did choose to submit and was nominated for the two rap
categories he has withdrawn.
Some have speculated that his decision might
have something to do with him being named in lawsuits surrounding the tragedy
at the Astroworld festival in Houston last month, where 10 people died when the
crowd rampaged during headliner Travis Scott’s set, which featured a guest
appearance from Drake.
Drake has had a long and at times contentious
relationship with the Grammys. A year ago, he called for them to be
replaced with “something new that we can build up over time and pass on to
the generations to come,” after it failed to recognize his peer and fellow
Canadian artist the Weeknd in any of its 2021 categories, despite him having
one of the top albums and singles of 2020.
In his words, he said: “I think we should
stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between
impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest
form of recognition may no longer matter to the artist that exist now and the
ones that come after,” he wrote in his Instagram Story. “It’s like a
relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just won’t change their ways. The
other day I said @theweeknd was a lock for either album or song of the year
along with countless other reasonable assumptions and it just never goes that
way. This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build
up overtime and pass on to the generations to come.”
“This is a business where sometimes it’s up
to a bunch of people that might not understand what a mixed-race kid from
Canada has to say or a fly Spanish girl from New York, or a brother from
Houston,” Drake said. “But the point is, you’ve already won if you have people
who are singing your songs word for word you don’t need this right here,” he
added, holding up the Grammy.
As he continued speaking, the awards ceremony
cut to commercial. Producers mistook a pause for the end of the speech.