Jay-Z to Perform at 2023 Grammys After Rocky History
Jay-Z is officially set to perform at the 2023 Grammy Awards live in Los Angeles.
On Friday (Feb. 3), the Recording Academy hit up Twitter to announce that Jay-Z will take the stage at the 65th annual Grammy Awards ceremony taking place at the Crypto.com Area in Los Angeles this coming Sunday, Feb. 5.
"The performance you've all been waiting for," tweeted the Recording Academy accompanied by a promotional graphic featuring an image of Jay-Z. "Hov is returning to the Grammys stage this Sunday."
The formal announcement of the rare performance from the Brooklyn icon follows weeks of rumors that have been circulating the internet regarding Jay-Z's involvement at this year's Grammy Awards. The hip-hop community has been running rampant with speculation that since DJ Khaled's "God Did" featuring Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, John Legend, Fridayy and Jay-Z himself is nominated in three categories this year, Hov just might hit the Grammy stage alongside his "God Did" cohorts.
In fact, immediately following the tweet triumphantly declaring that Jay-Z would be rocking the mic, the Recording Academy returned to Twitter on Friday with similar graphics to announce that the rest of the artists featured on DJ Khaled's "God Did," Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and John Legend, will all be performing at the music industry's biggest awards show as well.
The Recording Academy's not-so-cryptic tweets even went so far as to reference the Grammy-nominated Khaled track in making their announcement regarding John Legend.
"GOD DID give us the gift of [John Legend] back on the Grammys stage," the tweet reads.
This would be Jay-Z's first appearance at the Grammy Awards telecast after years of having a rocky relationship with the Recording Academy dating back to 1999. In a May 2021 interview with HBO's The Shop: Uninterrupted, the rap veteran explained why he boycotted the 1999 Grammy Awards where he won Best Rap Album for Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life. Hov said he declined the invitation because the Recording Academy didn't nominate DMX after he released two powerful No. 1 albums in one year: It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot and Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood.
"By the way, the first time I boycotted the Grammys was for [DMX]," he recalled. "We both came out that year, he didn't get nominated. He dropped two albums—had two No. 1 albums in the same year—they didn’t even nominate him. I won that year for [Best] Rap Album, so my first Grammy win I wasn’t there. I wasn’t even in the building because I boycotted it for [X]. There was a competitive thing, but it was big love."
Jay-Z didn't come back until 2004 where his wife Beyoncé won five trophies at the 46th annual Grammy Awards including Best Contemporary R&B album for Dangerously In Love.
"I didn't come back until... 2004 when a beautiful, young lady whom I love dearly had a solo album... the beautiful Miss Beyoncé," he said at Clive Davis' annual pre-Grammy function in 2018. "And I realized, 'Man, art is super subjective and everyone is doing their best, and the Academy, they're human like we are and they’re voting on things they like and it’s subjective.'"
As the rap game anxiously awaits Jay-Z's return to the Grammy Awards stage this coming Sunday, it's worth noting that if "God Did" wins any of its three nominations—Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance and Song of the Year—it will allow Jay-Z to squeak ahead of Kanye West as the rapper with the most Grammy Award wins. Currently, the former Watch The Throne duo is all knotted up at 24 Golden Gramophones each.