Drake has a strained relationship with the Grammy Awards. For instance, he dissed the Grammys onstage at the Grammys in 2019 and he later withdrew his 2022 nominations. Now, he has made light of the situation while honoring Lil Wayne at a Recording Academy event.
Last night (February 2) was the Recording Academy Honors Presented by the Black Music Collective at Hollywood Palladium, where Wayne and Missy Elliott were given the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, Drake honored Wayne with a video message, which he started, “Good evening, Grammys. Well, I haven’t gotten to say that since 2016.”
He continued, “Lil Wayne… I love you so much. I know I probably get annoying with saying how much you mean to me and my family, but I think I speak on behalf of everybody when I say that our careers, our cadences, our melodies, maybe our face tats or our outfits or our decisions in general would not have been the same without your natural gift to just be yourself.”
Wayne gave a touching speech of his own, saying in part, “I want you all to know that I don’t get honored. Where I’m from, New Orleans, you’re not supposed to do this. I walked into my mama’s room when I was 14. She asked me for a kid because my dad was killed. And her son had just blown up and went on his first tour. When I came home she said, ‘Son, I can’t live in this house by myself. We’re going to have to figure something out.’ “I’d like to thank Antonia Johnson [his first child’s mother] for reasoning with me and my mom, and my life. I’d like to thank every single one of my kids and every single one of their mothers.”
Deion Sanders also honored Wayne with a video message and 2 Chainz, Swizz Beatz, and Tyga closed the show by performing some Wayne songs.
