Jay-Z's Grammys speech about Beyoncé reiterates an ongoing issue with the awards

Jay-Z called out the Recording Academy's snubs against his wife, Beyoncé, during the Grammys on Sunday in a speech that drew attention to the lack of recognition Black artists have endured at the esteemed award show.

Greg Carr, associate professor in the Department of Afro-American studies at Howard University, says the music industry was built on exclusion.

"Once exclusion was no longer an option, the inclusion of Black music has been curated, at least historically, very carefully, to absorb that music while minimizing black people," he says.

During Jay-Z's acceptance speech for the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award on Sunday, he underscored this lack of acknowledgment.

"We love y'all. We want y'all to get it right," he said. "I don't want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than anyone and never won album of the year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn't work."

Beyoncé is the most decorated artist in Grammy history, securing that title in 2023 after four big wins including the award for best dance/electronic album for "Renaissance." However, many fans felt she was slighted in the album of the year category for the highly acclaimed project. No Black woman has earned that award in 25 years.

"I don't read Jay-Z as speaking up just for Beyoncé," says Adriane Lentz-Smith, an associate professor of history, and African and African American studies at Duke University. "But again calling the Grammys out for a pattern or a repeated practice of underplaying what Black artists have done... in the same way that rarely is advocating for any one person about solely them and getting them what they should have."

Beyoncé has been nominated for album of the year four times, for "Renaissance," "Lemonade," "Beyoncé" and "I Am... Sasha Fierce."

"Beatles aren't Black; Elvis wasn't Black; Bob Dylan wasn't Black. But the influence of Black people allowed for the incorporation of Black musical style without Black people," Carr says.

"So when I say that the system was set up to center whiteness, that's just natural because that's what the recording industry was set up to do. It couldn't stay that way because regardless of what structures do, people are going to do something else. So in the '70s, you see the increasing popularity of Black music worldwide."

A history of racial bias

Since its inception in 1957, the Grammy Awards have been accused of racial bias.

"It's a part of a longer history of taking for granted the innovations and contributions that African-Americans have made to popular music and to its various genres," Lentz-Smith says. "It's not the first time the Grammys have been called out. It's not the first time they've been called upon to self-correct, and they haven't quite gotten there yet."

In recent years, the show has been tagged #GrammysSoWhite and Black artists protested by not attending. Many celebrities have called out the award show for its mistreatment of Black artists.

In 2016, rapper/singer Frank Ocean decided not to submit his music for the awards as a direct response to this problem.

When it comes to album of the year, not only has the most decorated artist not won the category, as Jay-Z highlighted, only 11 Black artists have won the category to date.

Black women and album of the year

Only three Black women have been awarded album of the year since it was first introduced to the Grammy awards in 1959.

• Natalie Cole (1992)
• Whitney Houston (1994)
• Lauryn Hill (1999)

Singer and rapper Lauryn Hill was the last Black woman to win this category in 1999 for her debut solo album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” despite 16 Black women being nominated since:

• TLC (2000)
• India.Arie (2002)
• Missy Elliott (2004)
• Alicia Keys (2005)
• Mariah Carey (2006)
• Beyoncé (2010, 2015, 2017, 2023)
• Rihanna (2012)
• Brittany Howard with group Alabama Shakes (2016)
• Janelle Monáe (2019, 2024)
• H.E.R. (2019, 2020, 2022)
• Cardi B (2019)
• Lizzo (2020, 2023)
• Jhene Aiko (2021)
• Doja Cat (2022)
• Mary J. Blige (2023)
• SZA (2024)

Beyoncé, Janelle Monae, H.E.R. and Lizzo have all received multiple nomination in the category. SZA and Janelle Monae were among the nominees this year; however, Taylor Swift took home the award — the first artist to win four times.

"I don't think that it has to be a sort of celebrity death match between Beyoncé and Taylor Swift," Lentz-Smith says. "Calling out the Grammys for what they have not done for Black artists is not an attempt to detract or take something away from other artists."

A path forward

Album of the year continues to be the most esteemed award of music's biggest night. However, Lentz-Smith says its important to look at the past in order to move forward.

"The folks who award the Grammys should pay more attention to both where music has come from and what the Grammys has done in kind of an interaction with and an appreciation of black artists," she says. "And when people voice a complaint, don't respond as if it's individual sour grapes. Take a second and take a step back and ask, 'Is there a substantive critique there that we are secure enough and generous enough to hear?'"

Carer puts it plainly: "I think it all falls on the voters to perhaps be more uncomfortable, culturally. And not to be comfortable in acknowledging the Black presence and Black impact [when picking] performances. But now you need to acknowledge that with your vote, because that's where the power resides in these award hierarchies."