In a rare interview conducted just before the Grammy Awards, JAY-Z defended his wife Beyoncé’s chances of winning the coveted Album of the Year award with Renaissance.
Hov sat down for an open discussion with Elliott Wilson of TIDAL and laid out why Queen Bey deserved to win AOTY, a prize she has now dropped four times, most recently on Sunday, February 5, when Harry Styles’ Harry’s House triumphed in a shocking upset.
“Look what it’s done to the culture,” he said of his wife’s latest LP. “Look how the energy of the world moved. They play her whole album in the club. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. The whole entire joint — like, everything?! Every remix is amazing. Everyone’s inspired. It has inspired the world. Every remix is better than the other one.
“From anybody, we’re just finding these joints out in the street. Somebody just did a joint over Suga Free the other day — you heard this joint? (JAY pulls out his phone and plays Suga’s “I’d Rather Give You My Bitch.”) It’s a West Coast classic. The DJ put Bey’s vocals over this at a party and it went crazy.
He continued: “It’s inspiring creativity. You know how The Black Album had The Grey Album [Danger Mouse’s 2004 mashup project]? And the one with Radiohead? It was called Jaydiohead [Minty Fresh Beats’ 2009 mashup]. When it just inspires creativity, that’s an album. That has to be Album of the Year. It has to be.”
Beyoncé, however, picked up her 29th through 32nd wins to become the most decorated artist in Grammy Awards history despite losing Album of the Year.
Bey entered the room to win Renaissance’s Best Dance/Electronic Album award.
