Kanye West has won the Best Melodic Rap Performance award at the 2022 Grammys for his Donda song “Hurricane” alongside the Weeknd, and Lil Baby. They beat out fellow nominees J. Cole (“Pride Is the Devil” with Lil Baby), Doja Cat (“Need to Know”), Lil Nas X (“Industry Baby” with Jack Harlow), and Tyler, the Creator (“WusYaName” with YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Ty Dolla $ign).
The category honors a solo or collaborative performance containing both elements of R&B melodies and rap. Later, West’s song “Jail,” featuring Jay Z took best rap song. With this win, Kanye West officially ties JAY-Z for the same number of GRAMMYs received among hip-hop artists.
After being snubbed in 2021 and receiving no nominations, the Weeknd declared he would boycott the Grammys, holding fast even after the Recording Academy changed the nomination process.
Coming into the day, West had won 22 Grammys since his 2004 debut College Dropout. He was nominated for five awards this year, including Best Rap Song, Best Rap Album, and Album of the Year. He won for Best Rap Song (“Jail”) but lost Best Rap Album to Tyler, the Creator. West won Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for Jesus Is King at last year’s Grammys.
A representative for West confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that an unannounced 2022 Grammys performance was pulled due to “concerning online behavior” from the rapper. A report published by The Blast alleged Ye received a call from the Recording Academy notifying him that he was scrapped from this year’s Grammys performer lineup.
The news followed the Donda rapper’s temporary suspension from Instagram on March 16, after he published a post featuring a slur that targeted The Daily Show host Trevor Noah.
In the since-deleted post, lyrics to “Kumbaya” were replaced with a variation of a racial epithet based on a minstrel character in response to a Daily Show segment in which Noah addressed the rapper’s online fixation on and harassment of both Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson by calling it “terrifying to watch.” During the 24-hour suspension, the Grammy-winning musician was unable to post, comment or send DMs.