JAY-Z Explains Why Beyoncé's 'Renaissance' Should Have Won Album of the Year

Days before the 2023 Grammys, JAY-Z spoke to Tidal's Elliott Wilson and broke down why Beyoncé's Renaissance should have won AOTY.

It's safe to say that JAY-Z is disappointed with the Recording Academy's Album of the Year slight towards Beyoncé. Less than a week before his "God Did" performance with DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, John Legend and Fridayy during the 65th Grammy Awards, JAY-Z spoke to Tidal's Elliott Wilson in an exclusive interview. In the feature, the rapper and business mogul, 53, explained why his wife should win Album of the Year for Renaissance.

"Look what it’s done to the culture," Hov said. "Look how the energy of the world moved. They play her whole album in the club. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. The whole entire joint — like, everything?! Every remix is amazing. Everyone’s inspired. It has inspired the world. Every remix is better than the other one. From anybody, we’re just finding these joints out in the street."

The 24-time Grammy-winner went on to play Wilson Suga Free's 1997 song "I'd Rather Give You My Bitch."

"It’s a West Coast classic," he continued. "The DJ put Bey’s vocals over this at a party and it went crazy."

At the conclusion of the 2023 Grammys on Sunday night (February 5), Beyoncé lost AOTY to Harry Styles' third solo album, Harry's House. Despite the upset, Beyoncé won in four other categories;

Best R&B Song (“Cuff It”), Best Traditional R&B Performance (“Plastic Off the Sofa”), Best Dance/Electronic Recording (“Break My Soul”), also becoming the first Black woman to win Best Dance/Electronic Album (Renaissance). The music icon, 41, also became the most decorated artist in Grammy history.

Elsewhere in the Tidal interview, Hov broke down his shot towards the Recording Academy in his 2018 "Apes***" collaboration with Beyoncé.

"In that moment, I was like, “They missed the opportunity,” because people emulate success," he said. "In that moment, that album, 4:44, was a moment for us to say, “Hip-hop is viewed as a young man’s sport. Now here is this album that could take us into the next sphere.” I feel like they missed the moment."

He also mentioned that the Recording Academy previously "got it right" when awarding Stevie Wonder three times during his "classic period" in the 1970s.

"Come on, man. They got that shit right," Hov said. It was no politics. It was just like everybody knew when Stevie came out, sit down. That’s what we want. Just get it right, because we love it so much. That’s why there’s so much emotion around it. If we didn’t care, there wouldn’t be any emotion."