Drake Wins First Grammy Since 2019 Despite Not Submitting Music
Drake‘s anti-Grammy stance didn’t stop him from winning an award at the 2023 Grammy Awards for the first time in four years.
Last night (Feb. 5), the Grammy Awards aired live from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, with a number of rappers winning coveted gramophones. Drake won Best Melodic Rap Performance for his appearance on Future’s “Wait for U” with Tems. This marks his first win since bagging the trophy for Best Rap Song in 2019 for his diamond single “God’s Plan.”
It was at that year’s award show that Drake got cut off during his acceptance speech while he was speaking on the Grammy Awards’ insignificance.
“I want to take this opportunity while I’m up here to just talk to all the kids that are watching this, aspiring to do music,” Drake began in the speech. “All my peers that make music from their heart that do things pure and tell the truth, I wanna let you know we’re playing in an opinion-based sport not a factual-based sport. So it’s not the NBA where at the end of the year you’re holding a trophy because you made the right decisions or won the games,” he added before viewers were taken to commercial break.
In the years since then, Drake has refused to submit his music to The Recording Academy for Grammy award consideration, ultimately boycotting the big event. Drake now has five Grammy awards out of 51 nominations.
Kendrick Lamar was the biggest rap winner at the 2023 Grammys, winning Best Rap Song (“The Heart Part 5”), Best Rap Album (Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers) and Best Rap Performance (“The Heart Part 5”).