Drake withdraws his Grammy nominations for Certified Lover Boy and 'Way 2 Sexy'
Drake has withdrawn his recent Grammy nominations for Best Rap Album for Certified Lover Boy and Best Rap Performance for "Way 2 Sexy (featuring Future and Young Thug)," EW has confirmed.
A source with knowledge of Drake's decision tells EW the move was jointly made by the rapper and his management. In turn, the Recording Academy honored the request.
A representative for the Recording Academy also confirmed the removal of both nominations, which is also reflected on the official Grammys website.
Karwai Tang/WireImage Drake
There's no word yet on the reasoning behind Drake's decision — though earlier this year, he joined The Weeknd issuing a critique of the Recording Academy. As one of five nominees for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance, both categories will now go forward with voting for only four nominees each rather than nominating the album or artist who had received the sixth-most votes. This is different from how the Academy handled expanding the top four categories (Best Album, Song, Record, and New Artist) from eight to 10 nominees just last month, where the nominees who had received the ninth and tenth-most votes were added to the ballot.
This year's nominees were voted on by Recording Academy voting members from nearly 22,000 eligible entries that were released between Sept. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021. The final round of Grammy voting is already underway, beginning Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, and concluding on Jan. 5, 2022.
The 64th awards show will be held on Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, and will air on CBS and stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ from 8–11:30 p.m. ET/ 5–8:30 p.m. PT.
With reporting from Jethro Nededog.
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