Yahoo News Drake and 21 Savage’s ‘Her Loss’ Album Submitted for 2024 Grammy Awards (Exclusive)
Despite his dramatic past with the Grammy Awards, Drake’s Her Loss album could bring him more wins: The rapper’s collaborative effort with 21 Savage was submitted for awards at the 2024 show.
A source close to the situation tells The Hollywood Reporter that Her Loss was submitted for album of the year and best rap album, while songs from the No. 1 effort — including “Rich Flex” and “Spin Bout U” — were submitted to categories including record of the year, song of the year, best rap performance, best rap song and best melodic rap performance. Her Loss was released in November 2022 but qualifies at the upcoming Grammys, to be held on Feb. 4, 2024.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Jimmy Iovine Says "Fame Has Replaced Great" in Today's Music Industry
98 Degrees Says Taylor Swift Inspired Them to Rerecord Their Masters
It was not clear who submitted the album or the songs, and representatives for Drake, 21 Savage and the Recording Academy didn’t immediately reply to emails seeking comment. At the Grammys, Academy members involved in albums or songs — including songwriters, producers and engineers — can submit material they worked on for awards. For example, a producer or engineer who worked on most of Her Loss, who is a member of the Academy, could submit the project for album of the year, or a songwriter who co-wrote “Rich Flex” could submit it for song of the year and best rap song.
Drake has criticized the Grammys over the years and made headlines when he withdrew his two rap nominations at the 2022 awards. He decided not to submit his house-heavy album Honestly, Nevermind or any of its singles for awards at this year’s Grammys, which took place in February. But he still walked away victorious: He won best melodic rap performance for his guest appearance on Future’s “Wait for U,” which became a No. 1 pop hit and also features Afrobeats star Tems. “Wait for U” appears on Future’s album, I Never Liked You.
At this year’s show, Drake was nominated for four honors — all for his collaborative work: two were for “Wait for U”; he was up for album of the year for co-writing Beyoncé’s “Heated” from Renaissance; and he was nominated for best rap song for co-writing Jack Harlow’s “Churchill Downs.” Other songs featuring Drake were submitted for the 2024 show, including Travis Scott’s “Meltdown,” Young Thug’s “Oh U Went” and J Hus’ “Who Told You.”
Drake has won five Grammys, including best rap album for Take Care and best rap song for “God’s Plan.” After collecting best rap song and best rap/sung performance for “Hotline Bling” at the 2017 show, he said it felt weird winning rap honors for his major pop hit and said he felt restricted as a Black artist who performs across multiple genres. The 36-year-old has earned 51 nominations and is the rapper with the third-most nominations in the show’s history, only behind Kanye West, who has 75 nods, and Jay-Z, who has 88 nods and ties Beyoncé as the Grammys’ most-nominated acts of all-time.
Drake released a new album, For All the Dogs, last week and it would qualify at the 2025 Grammys. Albums and songs released between Oct. 1, 2022 and Sept. 15, 2023 qualify for the upcoming show, and nominations will be announced on Nov. 10. Ballots for first-round voting opened Wednesday.
On “Away from Home” from his new album, Drake addresses the Grammys with the lyrics: “Four Grammys to my name, a hundred nominations/Esperanza Spalding was gettin’ all the praises/I’m tryna keep it humble, I’m tryna keep it gracious/Who give a fuck Michelle Obama put you on her playlist?” The rapper also called out the awards show on the track “Grammys” from his 2016 album Views.
Drake’s frustrations with the Grammys have been shared by many in the rap and R&B communities since those acts rarely win in the top categories like album of the year or record of the year. Those performers, mostly Black artists, are reserved to wins in their genre categories; though Beyoncé is the most-decorated artist in the history of the awards show, 21 of her 32 wins have been in the R&B field and three in rap.
Other acts — including Kendrick Lamar, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Eminem, Frank Ocean, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Usher, Rihanna and more — have never won honors like album of the year or song of the year despite owning the year in music, both critically and commercially. Only four years ago did a rap song win record or song of the year for the first time when Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” achieved the feat. And only two rap-based albums have won album of the year: Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill made history in 1999 and OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below won in 2004.
21 Savage has been nominated for six Grammys and won best rap song for his J. Cole-assisted hit “A Lot.”
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
