Jay-Z, Clyde, Dad: The Roles of Shawn Carter in 3 Minutes, 29 Seconds

The Freestyle That Likely Serves as The Carters Out Speech

Last night, Jay-Z won the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the 2024 Grammys. His acceptance speech was everything but acceptance as he held The Grammys accountable for exclusion.

Jay-Z’s speech was like a smooth freestyle to call out the dog whistles of the elite at a table where he’d earned a seat to sip his D’Usse’ while puffing a Montecristos.

Jay-Z

Jay-Z discussed how far the rap genre has come at the Grammys. He recognized DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince for boycotting the Grammys in 1989 because the show would not televise them winning the first-ever Grammy for rap. He told how in 1998, he won a Grammy but was not there to accept it because he boycotted due to DMX not being nominated for a Grammy for any of the two albums he released that year.

He made their point clear: they want the Grammys to “get it right.”

“You ready, B? Let’s go get ‘em” — Jay-Z (ft Beyonce) ’03 Bonnie & Clyde

Clyde

Masterfully, without saying her name, but referring to her as a “young lady” who has won the most Grammys, Jay-Z smoothly transitioned to Clyde.

“And I do anything necessary for her, So don’t let the necessary occur, yep” — Jay-Z (ft Beyonce), ’03 Bonnie & Clyde

Staying true to his promise when he first introduced the world to his love for her, Clyde stood ten toes down for his Bonnie as he called out the Grammys for Beyonce winning the most awards but continuously getting snubbed for Album of the Year, the highest Grammy honor. She can get the all the Grammys for singles and duets, but for whatever reason, the Grammys refuse to honor her as a full-body artist for a work of art known as an album.

Let’s break down what this moment is specifically about and then get to the big picture of it all.

A Grammy executive was quoted saying they were in “talks” with Beyonce to perform during the Tina Turner tribute. This was a ploy to get us to watch the Grammys because they know the ratings Beyonce brings.

Beyonce pulled out the high joker and made a rare public statement through her publicist to announce that she would not be performing at the Grammys.

In other words, Beyonce is saying that they will not use her for ratings when they have continuously snubbed her for Album of the Year. In the discreet Beyonce way, she boycotted by not performing and dressed like she was going to a rodeo…her last rodeo. (We’ll come back to this.)

Her husband, as he accepted his award, was nothing but discreet in his support to her by calling a spade a spade and helping the Grammys clearly understand why she will not perform for them.

Beyonce played “the game” we are all asked to play at work to get where we want to be but still not be able to get all that comes with it. You may get the position, but you may not get all the access and authority of your peers in that same position. Now that Beyonce has learned “the game,” achieved great accomplishments, and beat “the game,” knows her worth, she can say, “no.” Period.

Dad

Then, Clyde looked to his left and saw one of the fruits of he and Bonnie’s labor standing right next to him nervously smiling. He paused and you could see the transition take place as he was reminded of who he is most: Dad.

Dad acknowledged his daughter and took her hand to comfort her during that nerve-wracking moment of standing next to him as he spoke truth to power. He then gave a dad-provoked motivational speech that spoke to his biological children and those of the music industry.

“Keep showing up.”

Moments later, the Chairman, the Genius, and the Greatest of All Time said, “thank you.”

“All I need in this life of sin is me and my girlfriend Down to ride ’til the very end, is me and my boyfriend” — Jay-Z (ft Beyonce), ’03 Bonnie & Clyde

Til the Very End

Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we may have seen the last of The Carters at the Grammys. What else is there to do? They’ve played “the game” and squeezed all they could out the lemon to make Lemonade while taking the most blows as they kept “showing up” to sometimes receive top honors and an unprecedented number of wins while other times getting snubbed at the hands of biased board members. Beyonce and Jay-Z have nothing left to prove, and given that the Grammys continue to not “get it right,” I don’t think either will submit their work to the Grammys anymore nor should they. They’ve stopped putting value in an award and realize their value is greater.

The Carters have amassed a value that is not determined by an award anymore. They are the needle that moves the show’s ratings and the work of the favs of the biased.

Beyonce dressed like she was going to a rodeo because she is saying this is her last rodeo.

I believe this was the mic-drop, Carters Out speech, which symbolically had their daughter on stage (again) for the profound moment.

The ’24 Bonnie & Clyde…Hov and B…Holla

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What It Looks Like to Keep “Showing Up”

In an interview with Gayle King, Jay-Z talked about how Blue Ivy saw critical comments online of her dance skills, following her debut performance on the Renaissance tour. Her DNA tapped in, and she put in hours of practice to progressively improve her skills as she continuously performed in front of tens of thousands of people on a weekly basis. That is what it looks like to keep “showing up.”

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