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In the lead up to The Grammy’s, Drake has caused an upset by officially withdrawing his two nominations.
According to Variety, after consultation with his management the Canadian singer officially requested his name be struck off the Grammy nomination list.
Drake had been nominated for two categories: best rap album for Certified Lover Boy and best rap performance for his song Way 2 Sexy, featuring Future and Young Thug.
No hint as to the reasons behind why the 35-year-old Drake made the decision has been officially released but it’s also not the first time he’s butt heads with what’s considered the biggest night of music.
In 2018, he refused to allow his album More For Life to be considered for Album Of The Year. This was, he stated at the time, because they lumped his hit song Hotline Bling into the 2017 rap category. The song actually has no rapping.
The stereotyping of Black artists and general oversight (honestly, Beyoncé losing to Adele? She’s fab but Lemonade was a work of art. Adele pretty much said so herself) has been a longstanding problem.
On their behalf, the Academy has taken the requests seriously. Drake no longer appears on the list of nominees on the official Grammy’s website and they’ve also added the nomination changes to its list of regular updates.
As to whether the recent repairing of his friendship with industry’s biggest provocateur Kanye West has had any influence on Drake’s decision to blacklist the night (an event that Kanye himself has had some sketchy history with) is unclear.
West’s latest album Donda has also been nominated for Best Rap Album as well as Album of the Year, the latter category pitting him against Taylor Swift’s Evermore and Lil Nas X Montero (on which West has a slew of credits).
West has also been nominated for Best Melodic Rap Performance for his track Hurricane, Featuring The Weeknd & Lil Baby.
