What Does Beyonce Have to Do to Win Album of the Year?

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February 7, 2024

Tony Pierce, Word in Black

Queen Bey has more Grammys than any other artist, but can’t ever seem to nab the top prize. Here’s how she can get it.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 04: Beyoncé supports Jay-Z as he accepts the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award during the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

“When I get nervous, I tell the truth,” Jay-Z joked Sunday night in front of 18,000 members and guests of the Recording Academy while winds howled around the Crypto.com Arena and record rains dumped onto the City of Angels.

Mr. Carter, was clutching a special all-black Grammy he’d just been handed, The Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. He was using the bulk of his three-minute acceptance speech to criticize the 65 year-old music ceremony for an ongoing laundry list of snubs Black artists have noticed year after year.

The legendary New York rapper listed a pair of Grammy “boycotts” he and others participated in over the years, beginning in 1998 when DMX had two #1 albums but received zero nominations. Jay, who had been nominated, stayed home out of protest (but watched on TV anyway).

“We want y’all to get it right,” the producer and mogul said as he and his 12-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, stood awkwardly next to him. […]

Everyone knew what time it was. It was time for him to lay it down and defend his wife Beyoncé, and her notable Grammy snubs. “Obviously, it’s subjective because it’s music, and it’s opinion-based,” he said, not sounding nervous at all. “I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone, and never won Album of the Year.” […]

Since 1959, when the Grammys began and the category was introduced, only 11 Black musicians have won Album of the Year. And only one, Stevie [Wonder], has received that accolade multiple times (3).

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Read this Breaking News article to learn why some are arguing Black people should boycott the Grammys.

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