Drake Once Felt Alienated by the Grammys
Drake hasn’t always felt welcomed by the Grammys Awards. He’s won several accolades from the prestigious ceremony, but doesn’t believe his songs were given the proper attention they deserved.
Why Drake found winning a Grammy a little weird
Drake was once a constant presence at the Grammys. He’s been nominated 47 times and has home four awards. But his Grammy victories haven’t always been satisfying for the multi-platinum artist. When the Degrassi alum won the Best Rap Song Grammy “Hotline Bling” in 2017, he felt there was a racial bias behind his win.
“I’m a black artist, I’m apparently a rapper, even though ‘Hotline Bling‘ is not a rap song,” Drake once told 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.”
Drake also felt that the Grammys treatment over the years was pushing him away.
“By the way, I’m speaking to you as a winner. I won two awards, but I don’t even want them because it just feels weird for some reason,” Drake once said on his OVO Sound Radio (via Yahoo). “It just doesn’t feel right to me. I feel almost alienated, or like they’re trying to purposely alienate me by making me win rap awards or pacify me by handing me something and putting me in that category because it’s the only place where you can figure out where to put me.”
Drake once called for the Grammys to be replaced
At one point, Drake felt that the Grammys should’ve been swapped for a newer awards ceremony. One that he felt would’ve been fairer to artists.
“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 on Instagram (via Variety). “It’s like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just can’t change their ways.”
The “Race My Mind” artist called for someone to create an alternative to the Grammys. Something that would “build up over time and pass on to the generations to come .”
Drake stopped returning rapper Too Short’s phone calls after he won awards
Drake has won a variety of awards during his period on top of the music industry. Hard work often comes with reaching that level of success, and that hard work might make collaborations difficult. This might have been the case when it came to working alongside rapper Too Short.
The “Blow the Whistle” rapper expressed interest in working with Drake, and shared it might have happened. But as Drake became more successful and started winning awards, the opportunity for a collaboration shrunk.
“I was really focused on being on that Drake vibe, and I was just about to do a song with Drake,” Too Short once told Hip Hop DX. “I feel like it might have happened, and then he got the 13 Billboard Awards, and nobody answered the phone anymore. I was like, ‘F***.’ I ain’t call too many times. I just fell back like, damn. I missed the window.”
