Drake’s acceptance speech at the Grammys made the award ceremony feel especially irrelevant Sadaf Ahsan

On the day after the Grammy Awards, the conversation among music fans and pop-culture aficionados is almost always centred around who didn’t win. “They chose Taylor Swift over Kendrick Lamar?” “Who actually thought Beck’s album was better than Beyoncé’s?” This year, in the aftermath of the sometimes ludicrous four-hour broadcast, we have been talking about a winner — but not for the reason anyone affiliated with the ceremony would prefer.

After winning Best Rap Song of the year for “God’s Plan,” Drake launched into a lengthy acceptance speech, saying, “This is a business where sometimes it’s up to a bunch of people who might not understand what a mixed-race kid from Canada has to say, or a fly Spanish girl from New York, or a fly brother from Houston.” He continued, “If you have people who are singing your songs word for word, if you’re a hero in your hometown, if there’s people who have regular jobs who are coming out in the rain and the snow, spending hard-earned money to buy tickets to come to your shows, you don’t need this (Grammy Award) right here. You already won.”

Then, mid-sentence, the show cut to commercial (and the rapper’s microphone was cut off according to those in the arena at the time). A Grammy representative shared the following statement with Variety on Monday about the incident: “During Drake’s speech, there was a natural pause and at that moment the producers did assume that he was done and then cut to commercial.”

Whatever the case, Drake’s words resonated with viewers, especially as it deviated from his typically jovial persona. His presence at the ceremony was a surprise itself, after all; the rapper has been notably anti- Grammys, having boycotted the show for several years now, rarely making appearances at any award ceremonies, including Canada’s Junos. His reasoning? The Grammys’ historic blind eye to the rap community.

Some of the biggest names in music — Drake, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, JAYZ — rarely receive Grammy recognition in the general categories. It’s particularly shocking because if there’s any genre of music that consistently dominates the top of the Billboard charts, it’s rap and hip-hop. Nevertheless, the only time a rapper has won Album of the Year was Outkast in 2004. It’s part of the reason Drake’s appearance was such a surprise to begin with, and why so many musicians declined to attend this year’s ceremony, including Beyoncé, Lamar and Donald Glover ( a. k. a. Childish Gambino).

Adding to the acrimony is how eager the Grammys seem to be to use hip- hop stars to promote their show. In the lead-up to this year’s broadcast, Lamar and Glover’s music and images were used in multiple commercials for the ceremony. As a marketing move, it makes sense; they’re some of the most popular artists of the last year. But there’s an insidious discrepancy in using their music for promotion and then neglecting to award them. And it’s to the show’s detriment, which lost not only key performers but attendees and presenters.

This isn’t the first time the Grammy committee’s exclusionary attitude has been criticized. Just last year, despite being nominated for Album of the Year and being one of the biggest acts at the time, Lorde was not offered a performance slot for her own song. She chose not to attend in protest (much like Ariana Grande this year). All of her fellow AOTY nominees, however, were offered solo performance slots ( all of them also happened to be male). At the time, Recording Academy president Neil Portnow said women needed to “step up” if they wanted more recognition.

Sure enough, Sunday’s show was as woman-heavy as it’s been in recent years, with Alicia Keys hosting and performing, and a rather inexplicable appearance by Michelle Obama, who specifically addressed all the “ladies” in the room. Perhaps the only speech to rival Drake’s in terms of post-awards chatter was Dua Lipa’s. While accepting her award for Best New Artist, Lipa sarcastically shouted out Portnow’s comments from the previous year: “I guess this year we’ve really stepped up.”

With more women winning awards — including Kacey Musgraves taking home Album of the Year — and Glover being honoured for Record of the Year, it’s clear this year’s show made strides to recognize a more diverse group of talent. Drake’s comments, however, made these efforts seem futile. When the most popular and bestselling artist of his generation discredits the Grammys as a measure of success, and most of his peers don’t even attend, it’s tough to see how the once iconic trophy can continue to hold the weight it once did in the music world.

If anything, Drake’s appearance reinforced something that’s likely been true for a while, but has only been recently realized: the Grammys needs these artists a whole lot more than these artists need the Grammys.