Jay-Z drank cognac out of his Grammy Award on Sunday – after putting the show on blast for never giving his wife Beyonce the Album of the Year award.
The iconic rapper, 54, who said ‘some nominees were robbed tonight’, brushed aside the drama as he poured the liquor into his Dr. Dre Global Impact Award and took a swig.
The star looked in great spirits as he rang in the night with Beyonce, 42, and daughter Blue Ivy, 12, who was onstage during his controversial acceptance speech.
Jay-Z used his acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards to condemn the academy for failing to give his wife Beyonce the best album award, despite her 32 wins in other categories.
The Brooklyn-born rapper was honored with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award for his contribution to the music industry.
Jay-Z drank cognac out of his Grammy Award on Sunday – after putting the show on blast for never giving his wife Beyonce the Album of the Year award
He looked like he was having a whale of a time as he drank his cognac
The music mogul celebrated his win by pouring his own-brand D’ussé cognac into his Grammy
He looked pretty proud as he posed for photos with the award in his hand
With his 12-year-old daughter Blue Ivy standing on stage beside him, and wife Beyonce looking on from their table in the audience, dressed in just-off-the-catwalk Louis Vuitton by Pharrell Williams, Jay-Z spoke about the importance of dreams, drive and ambition.
He said that there were more important things in life than winning Grammys, noting they were subjective – and pointing out his superstar wife had never won best album.
‘I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year,’ Jay-Z said. ‘So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. The most Grammys; never won Album of the Year. That doesn’t work.’
The camera cut to Beyonce, looking slightly apprehensive in the audience.
Jay-Z has been nominated for 88 competitive Grammy Awards, winning 24 of them. Six of his nominations have been for Album of the Year.
Beyonce has also been nominated for 88 competitive Grammy Awards, winning 32 of them.
Like her husband, Beyonce has been nominated six times for Album of the Year, but never won.
In 2015, when Beyonce lost out on Album of the Year to Beck, Kanye West pretended to storm the stage in protest.
The moment drew parallels to West’s actions in 2009, when he famously interrupted Swift as she accepted the Best Female Video award at the MTV Video Music Awards, telling her: ‘Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you. … but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.’
Jay-Z raised a Grammy to his own success, sipping from the award as he joked his daughter did
Jay-Z is seen delivering a passionate rebuke of the Grammys for failing to give his wife Beyonce a best album award
Jay-Z, 54, is seen with his 12-year-old daughter Blue Ivy on stage at the Grammy Awards
Beyonce looked rather apprehensive as her husband spoke
Jay-Z is seen delivering his acceptance speech as Blue Ivy looks on
Kanye West is seen in 2009 storming the stage to protest at Taylor Swift winning the Best Video award at the MTV Video Music Awards. West said Beyonce should have won
West is seen in 2015 with Beck, pretending to protest Beck winning Album of the Year instead of Beyonce
West left the stage as Beck said to him: ‘Come back!’ After, Beck said: ‘Absolutely I thought she was going to win. You can’t please everybody. I still love him and think he’s genius. I aspire to what he does. How many great records has he put out in the last five years, right?’