Canadian rapper Aubrey Drake Graham popularly known as Drake has requested the Recording Academy to withdraw his two nominations from the final ballot for the 2022 Grammy Awards.
The development was revealed in a report by Associated Press and the removal of his nomination from an updated nominations list on the Grammy’s website corroborated the story.
Prior to the reported request, Drake, a four-time Grammy winner was nominated for Best Rap Album Certified Lover Boy and Best Rap Performance for his song Way 2 Sexy featuring Future and Young Thug.
The 35-year-old was up against J. Cole – The Off Season, Nas – King’s Disease II, Tyler, the Creator – Call Me if You Get Lost and Kanye West’s – Donda, in the Best Rap Album category. While in the best rap performance category, he was against Family Ties by Baby Keem featuring Kendrick Lamar, Up by Cardi B, My Life by J. Cole featuring 21 Savage & Morray, and Thot S*** by Megan Thee Stallion.
There was no reason given for the withdrawal request in the report by Associated Press but Drake has called out the Grammy in past years.
In 2017, he lamented that he was regularly boxed as a rap artist despite making hits in the pop genre. That year, his hit song Hotline Bling was nominated and won the best rap song and best rap/sung collaboration
“I’m a Black artist, I’m apparently a rapper, even though Hotline Bling is not a rap song,” Drake said in a February 2017 interview with Britain’s DJ Semtex. “The only category that they can manage to fit me in is in a rap category, maybe because I’ve rapped in the past or because I’m Black.” He added, “I won two awards, but I don’t even want them because it feels weird to me.”
When The Weekend was denied a nomination in the 2021 Grammy Awards, Drake called out the Recording Academy over their disconnect with “impactful music”.
“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 artists that exist now and the ones that come after,” Drake wrote while reacting to the high-profile snub of The Weekend.
“It’s like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just can’t change their ways.”
