Kelly Rowland has expressed her admiration for JAY-Z after he spoke out in defense of his wife Beyoncé, who has never won the coveted Album of the Year award at the Grammys.
The rapper, who has tied with Beyoncé for the most Grammy nominations at 88, used his acceptance speech for the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 4, to call out the Recording Academy for overlooking his spouse’s work.
Kelly Rowland hails Jay-Z’s speech at 2024 Grammys
One of the people who was especially moved by JAY-Z’s words was Kelly Rowland, who was a member of Destiny’s Child with Beyoncé and is also her close friend and sister-in-law.
Attending the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love, a documentary about the legendary reggae singer, in Los Angeles days after the Grammys, Rowland spoke to Entertainment Tonight about how she felt about JAY-Z’s speech.
“Shawn Carter is one of the greatest men I know and his words ring so loud to me. I couldn’t be more proud of him. “I’m just really happy for a lot of things that he said. I think that he made a lot of artists feel very seen and very heard in those minutes that he took on stage,” she said.Related stories
Rowland also praised Beyoncé for being a trendsetter and claimed her albums speak for themselves saying:
“I feel like she is an icon… and that’s for a reason – it’s because she starts trends. She is innovative, her thoughts are big and bright and she just jumps for them and does it. I think that her albums are a reflection of that, and it should be really celebrated in that way. I’m not saying that because it’s my sister, I’m saying it because it’s the truth. I’ve seen the blood, sweat and tears that she puts into these projects, and her thoughts and her heart and her passion and her soul.”
Beyoncé has been nominated for Album of the Year four times, for Dangerously in Love (2004), I Am… Sasha Fierce (2010), Beyoncé (2015), and Lemonade (2017), but has lost to other artists each time.
Roland Martins blasts Jay’s speech
While Kelly Rowland agrees with Jay-Z, Roland Martin thinks otherwise and has stated on his Unfiltered program that the renowned rapper ought to have declined the honor until modifications were made to the event to support hip-hop musicians. Martin pointed out that there was no live TV broadcast for the rap categories.
“Jay-Z, if you want the Grammys to change, you should’ve said, ‘I will not accept this award nor will I attend until y’all put one of the rap categories on the televised broadcast,” he said.