On music’s biggest night, artists like SZA and Victoria Monet and Hip Hop veterans like Jay-Z and Killer Mike walked away with the coveted gramophone.
On Sunday (Feb.4), the Recording Academy held its 66th Grammy Award ceremony at L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena. Some of music’s biggest stars came together and donned their best ball gowns and tuxedos for a night to remember. Former Daily Show host and comedian Trevor Noah returned for a fourth time to host.
SZA went into the evening as the most nominated artist that night with over nine nominations, including one for album of the year for SOS, as well as song of the year and record of the year for “Kill Bill.” Singer-songwriter Victoria Monet received seven nominations, winning Best R&B Album and Best Engineered Album, non-classical, for her album Jaguar II. The “On My Mama” singer also won the Best New Artist award.
Tyla and Coco Jones also walked with awards Sunday night—Tyla for Best African Performance for “Water” and Coco Jones for Best R&B Performance for “ICU.” As for Killer Mike, he won both Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for “Scientists & Engineers” and Best Rap Album for Michael (however, he got arrested before the live broadcast for an earlier physical altercation).
That said, the highlight of the night came when Jay-Z received the Dr.Dre Global Impact Award. Over his three-decade career, the rap star has become far more than a Grammy-Award-winning artist: An entrepreneur, philanthropist, and more. With Blue Ivy alongside, Jay-Z headed to the Grammy stage, where the rapper talked about his journey in the music industry, the importance of hip hop in his life and paid homage to the rappers before him. But that isn’t what sent social media buzzing.
Jay-Z also called out the Recording Academy for their lack of respect for rap artists and his wife, Beyonce, one of the most decorated artists in Grammy history but never won Album Of The Year. “I’m just saying, we want y’all to get it right. We love y’all; we love y’all; we want you to get it right, or at least get it close to right,” he said. Jay continued: “…obviously it’s subjective … because it’s music and it’s opinion-based, but some things — I don’t wan to embarrass this young lady” — seemingly referring to Beyonce — “but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year, so even by your own metrics that doesn’t work.”