Grammy Awards: Drake withdraws nominations

Drake’s two Grammy nominations for 2022 have been withdrawn from the official website.

According to reports, the decision was made at the request of Drake and his management.

A source at the Recording Academy has told Newsbeat that the Academy chose to honor his wish.

The reasons for this are currently unclear, with the rapper’s representatives not yet responding to a request for comment.

Drake was one of five nominees for Best Rap Album, for Certified Lover Boy, and for Best Rap Performance, for Way 2 Sexy.

On the official Grammy’s website, it states the two nominations have been removed, with no replacement entries, meaning voting for those two categories will go ahead with just four nominees.

Drake has had a tough relationship with the Grammys in the past.

Last year he called for it to be replaced with a new awards show after several artists, including The Weeknd, were overlooked.

“I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards,” he said at the time.

“This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come.”

Earlier this year, the Grammys scrapped their anonymous voting committees following allegations of rigging, favoritism, and racism.

The Recording Academy said its voting members – which run into thousands – would instead select next year’s nominations and winners.

In 2017, Drake was unhappy over the distribution of awards after his single Hotline Bling was nominated for – and won – best rap song.

“Even though Hotline Bling is not a rap song, the only category they can manage to fit me in is a rap category,” he said on his OVO Radio show.

“Maybe because I’ve rapped in the past or because I’m black, I can’t figure out why.”

A year later he refused to submit his number one album More Life for consideration at the awards.

And after returning to the awards ceremony in 2019, he criticized the Grammys, and award shows in general, on live television.

“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 said.

“I want to let you know we’re playing in an opinion-based sport, not a factual-based sport.”

Drake’s entries are not the only changes made to this year’s nominations.

Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Annie Clark have been removed as part of the list of nominees on Olivia Rodrigo’s best album nomination for Sour – as they were incorrectly named as full co-writers

He is no longer nominated for best rap song as a writer on Kanye West’s Jail.

But his nomination for Kanye’s album Donda – up for album of the year – still stands.