Brooklyn is having a proud moment on this Tuesday, as Jay-Z has become the most-nominated artist in Grammy Awards history, with his three 2022 noms pushing him to 83. He had previously been tied with legendary producer/composer Quincy Jones at 80.
Jay, who last released an album in 2017, is nominated for guest appearances with Kanye West (whose “Donda” album is up for Album of the Year) and the late DMX. He currently has 23 wins.
Paul McCartney, previously tied for second place with Beyonce, gains two nods in the rock category and passes her and Jones for sole possession of the No. 2 spot with 81. Neither Jones nor Beyonce are nominated for 2022 awards, although Q did write the liner notes for top nominee Jon Batiste’s “We Are” album.
Jay-Z made his Grammy bow in 1999 with three nods, two from his classic “Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life” album and one for his tag-team with Jermaine Dupri, “Money Ain’t a Thang.” He won won but did not attend the awards, later saying he “boycotted” them because fellow New Yorker DMX had not been nominated despite racking up two No. 1 albums in a year. Jay, who turns 52 next month, has been nominated in 18 of the 22 Grammy years since then, even though his release schedule has slowed considerably over the past decade.
The Brooklyn native’s biggest Grammy-winning years were 2009, 2010 and 2012, when he took home three each. Ironically, he won no trophies in his most-nominated year, 2017, when his “4:44” album and related singles and video received eight total nods. This did not improve his complicated relationship with the Grammys, and Jay stated his opinion on the matter unequivocally in “Apeshit,” released the following year on his duet album with wife Beyonce, “Everything Is Love.” “Tell the Grammy’s fuck that 0 for 8 shit/ Have you ever seen the crowd goin’ apeshit?,” he raps on the song.
The first of McCartney’s 18 wins came in 1964 with two as a member of the Beatles, who took Best New Artist as well as one for the song “A Hard Day’s Night.”
Next in line after Jones and Beyonce are Stevie Wonder and late classical conductor Georg Solti, tied with 74; and film-music maestros Henry Mancini and John Williams, tied with 72, none of whom have 2022 nominations.
