At the Grammy nominations announcement ceremony a few weeks back, it was announced that 35-year-old Drake had earned himself two nods this year – Best Rap Album for Certified Lover Boy and Best Rap Performance for his Future & Young Thug collab track, “Way 2 Sexy.”
According to Variety, the father of one and his management team have made the decision to withdraw his submissions, with the Grammys choosing to honour the rapper’s request. He has yet to address the choice publicly, and at the time, his motivation remains unclear.
The article notes that, since ballots have already been posted to Academy members, voting will go forward with just four nominees rather than giving a nomination to the recipient of the sixth-most votes, as has happened in the past.
It’s no secret that Drizzy has had his troubles with the Grammys in the past – he himself holds a total of four wins and 47 nominations – but last year, he expressed his opinion that it’s time for change to come in the industry. The “God’s Plan” recording artist called for “something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come” following the Academy’s blatant snub of The Weeknd despite his obvious success.
“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 wrote on Instagram at the time. “It’s like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just won’t change their ways. The other day I said @theweeknd was a lock for either album or song of the year along with countless other reasonable assumptions and it just never goes that way.”
What do you think Drake is plotting with his sudden decision to withdraw? Speculate in the comments.
[Via]