Drake's withdraw from the Grammys devalues the Grammys

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The Grammys is a celebrated day when the recording academy recognizes the best artists in the music industry. Over the years, the Grammy’s relationship with hip-hop has had its ups and downs. In 1989, The Grammys started recognizing hiphop as a genre of music. The recording academy has always undermined the genre of hip-hop. There have been numerous boycotts from artists such as The Fresh Prince and Jay-Z in 1999.

Recently the Grammys released the nominations for this year. Drake was nominated twice, one for Best Rap Performance and one for Best Rap Album. On December 6th, 2021, it was reported that Drake withdrew his nominations for the Grammy’s. Drake hasn’t had a thrilling relationship with the Grammys either. He has felt that he was snubbed at different times in his career.

In 2017, He didn’t go to the Grammys stating that he didn’t appreciate his song Hotline Bling being nominated in the Rap category. Hotline Bling went on to win Best Rap Song of the year. In 2019, Drake didn’t attend the Grammys but when he was asked to perform he declined. His song God’s Plan went on to win Best Rap Song but, before Drake got to finish his acceptance speech his microphone got cut off.

Throughout the years' Drake has been Alluding to the idea that the Grammys may not be a “true” award. He speaks to the idea that the award was once thought of as the highest recognition in the industry and now it doesn’t have that same appeal. What does it mean when the biggest artist in the music industry doesn’t respect the recognition from the music industry? Does it devalue it?