Not that JAY-Z asked for them or even needed them, but his good friend Jermaine Dupri did not shed any tears for Hov after last month’s Grammys. JAY, an eight-time nominee, was infamously shut out at the 60th annual award ceremony. When asked about his “Money Ain’t A Thang” co-hort’s snub, JD simply said he’s been there before.
“What do you think about me getting snubbbed at the Grammys?” Dupri replied calmly via telephone. “I didn’t win for Confessions and I didn’t win for The Emancipation of Mimi. These were the two biggest albums of the decade. Of the music history decade, these two were the biggest they could possibly be. Nobody sold more records than Usher and I got snubbed then.”
JD is referring to the 2005 Grammy Awards, where the posthumous Ray Charles LP Genius Loves Company beat out the favorite in the Album of the Year category, Confessions, which had sold ten million copies the previous year. Jermaine says it is no hard feelings though.
“I feel like the Grammys, that’s just that show… It’s not a show where it guarantees you a win,” he explains. “It’s been like that. I don’t think it should change. It makes you try to go harder. A lot of things in this music business have changed where kids don’t feel like they have to go as hard as they could possibly go. The older people in the game are giving it to the younger people because they don’t want to feel like they’re old no more. But institutions like the Grammys should stay like that, it instills this feeling in all of us to make us come back and get it even more.
“It’s almost like when New York had clubs and you couldn’t get in if you had hats on and you didn’t have no girls with you,” he added. “There wasn’t no way you could get in the club. It was like that. To me New York [club scene] lost that [mystique] because they start letting everybody in. It’s hard to ask me.”
Dupri did note that the people who beat Hov in the respective categories were great heavyweights as well, but did predict JAY will come back with more music and be even more successful.
“JAY-Z was up against some tough ass opponents. Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar, that’s tough competition this year on any level,” JD surmised. “I feel like it made for a great show. It is fucked up [JAY] had to sit out there for the whole show and didn’t get nothin, we all know that’s the Grammys. We’ve all said our gripes about it. When I lost to Ray Charles, I was blown away. I never even heard the Ray Charles record. I feel like that’s what JAY is about to do. He’s probably not gonna go to the awards again and sit in the front, but him not going , that’s when they gonna give gonna give it to him.”
One ceremony Hov happily missed last year was the Songwriters Hall of Fame. JAY was the first MC, first rep from the hip-hop culture to be bestowed the award. He couldn’t make the show, however, because he and his wife Beyonce were welcoming twins. This year Jermaine Dupri got the nod and will be inducted for his three decades of hit-making. The Atlanta legend has also been tapped to receive the Breaking Barriers Award at this year’s Global Spin Awards.
The Global Spin Awards air Thursday, February 22 at 9 p.m. ET on REVOLT TV. Looking for the channel? Use our locator here !