Rapper, Drake has withdrawn his two Grammy nominations for 2022.
According to Variety, Drake and his management made the choice to withdraw from the 2022 Grammy Nominations.
The rapper was nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Rap Album (for Certified Lover Boy) and Best Rap Performance (for “Way 2 Sexy“).
Rather than giving a nomination to the recipients of the sixth-most votes, as the Academy did when it suddenly decided to expand the top four categories from eight to 10 last month, the voting for those two rap categories will go forward with just four nominees, presumably because the voting period already has begun; Grammy ballots were posted for voting members on Monday morning.
Other recent changes to the Grammy nominees for 2022 include Marilyn Manson losing one of his nominations (Best Rap Song for Kanye West’s “Jail”) due to modifications to the songwriting credits, and Linda Chorney receiving a nomination for Best American Roots Song.
In addition, credited Sour songwriters Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) were not nominated for Album of the Year.
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Drake has previously expressed dissatisfaction with the Grammy Awards and the Recording Academy.
Last year, after the Weeknd received zero nominations for the 2021 Grammys, Drake wrote in an Instagram Story,
“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 continued,
“It’s like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just won’t change their ways. The other day I said [the Weeknd] 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.”
After skipping the Grammys in 2017, Drake chastised the Recording Academy for nominating “Hotline Bling” in rap categories despite stating his hit was a pop song.
He also said, “We’ve been conditioned to think that this is the true award for our accomplishments.”
Drake later attended the Grammy Awards in 2019, but declined to perform during the ceremony. His microphone was shut off during his acceptance speech when he won Best Rap Song for “God’s Plan” that year.