Drake is officially sitting out the 2027 Grammy race with all three of his 2026 albums, turning one of the clearest lines on ICEMAN into reality and extending his complicated relationship with the Recording Academy.

According to a Billboard report cited by multiple outlets Tuesday morning, Drake did not submit ICEMAN, HABIBTI or MAID OF HONOUR for consideration at the 69th Grammy Awards. Sources also told Billboard that Drake declined to submit any of the individual songs from those projects, effectively removing his entire three-album 2026 run from Grammy consideration.

That means Drake won’t be competing for Album of the Year, Best Rap Album or other album categories with any of the three projects, and songs from the albums won’t appear on the Grammy ballot simply because of their commercial performance. Under Recording Academy rules, eligible music must first be formally entered during its Online Entry Process before voters can consider it. Music that isn’t submitted cannot receive a nomination.

The move isn’t especially surprising to anyone who listened through ICEMAN.

On the album’s closing track, “Make Them Know,” Drake explicitly said he would never submit the project to the Grammys, adding that he believed the Academy would never properly consider it. Months later, he appears to have followed through — and gone even further by withholding HABIBTI, MAID OF HONOUR and their songs as well.

Drake Didn’t Just Withhold ICEMAN

The scale of the decision is what makes the development particularly notable.

Drake released ICEMAN, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR simultaneously on May 15, flooding streaming services with three separate full-length projects rather than delivering the single album fans had spent months anticipating. Pitchfork reported that the three releases featured artists including Future, Molly Santana, Sexyy Red, Loe Shimmy and 21 Savage, with production contributions from Boi-1da, Ovrkast, Riot and others.

The three projects together contained 43 songs at their original release.

Drake later expanded HABIBTI with the FOMO material, continuing to add music to an already enormous year. The expanded project included “Solar Eclipse (Choosin’ Texas Remix)” with Don Toliver, “Cold Shoulder” with Don Toliver and Yebba, “Québec” and “Classic Pt. 2.”

Yet none of the eligible material from the original three-album run is being entered into the 2027 Grammy competition, according to the new report.

That isn’t a Grammy snub.

Drake is removing himself before Grammy voters get the opportunity to nominate him.

There Is an Important Difference Between a Snub and No Submission

That distinction will matter when Grammy nominations are announced in November.

If Drake’s name is missing from the major categories, it would be misleading to say Grammy voters rejected ICEMAN.

They won’t have the opportunity to vote for it.

The Recording Academy’s official rules state that the 2027 Grammy Online Entry Process ran from July 7 through Aug. 21. Registered media companies and Recording Academy members were required to submit eligible recordings during that window.

“If a recording or work is not formally submitted, it cannot be considered for a Grammy Award or a Grammy nomination,” the Academy explains.

The eligibility period itself covered music released between Aug. 31, 2025 and Aug. 28, 2026, meaning Drake’s May releases fell squarely inside the qualifying window.

He could have competed.

According to the reporting, he chose not to.

ICEMAN Would Have Been the Centerpiece

Of the three projects, ICEMAN likely would have drawn the most attention during Grammy season.

It was the primary album Drake had spent months building toward, and it arrived as his first major solo statement following the extraordinary 2024 feud with Kendrick Lamar.

Rolling Stone reports that ICEMAN went on to surpass Take Care for Drake’s longest run atop Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

That made it exactly the kind of commercially significant rap project that ordinarily would be expected to appear somewhere in the Grammy conversation.

Instead, Drake had already told listeners what he planned to do.

On “Make Them Know,” he rapped:

“This album, I’m never submittin’ it.”

Now that line looks less like frustration expressed in a song and more like a literal awards-season strategy.

He Apparently Withheld the Songs Too

Drake could have declined to submit the albums while still entering individual records.

According to Billboard’s reporting, he didn’t.

Sources say none of the songs from the three projects were submitted either.

That closes off several possible paths to nominations.

Tracks potentially could have competed across rap, melodic rap, R&B or general-field categories depending on their submissions and final category placement.

Instead, Drake appears to have made the broader decision that his 2026 solo campaign won’t participate in the process at all.

It is difficult to interpret that as an accidental paperwork omission considering his explicit ICEMAN lyric and his long history of intentionally distancing himself from the Grammys.

Drake and the Grammys Have Been at Odds for Years

This isn’t the first time Drake has walked away from Grammy consideration.

His frustration with the institution stretches back years and has taken several different forms.

One early flashpoint came after “Hotline Bling” won Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Performance at the 2017 Grammys.

Drake argued afterward that “Hotline Bling” wasn’t a rap song and suggested that the Academy’s decision to place him in rap categories reflected how Black artists can be boxed into genres regardless of what kind of music they actually make.

He has also criticized the significance artists place on Grammy recognition.

That tension became impossible to miss during the 2019 ceremony.

His 2019 Grammy Speech Became One of His Defining Awards Moments

Drake won Best Rap Song for “God’s Plan” at the 2019 Grammys and used his acceptance speech to tell artists they didn’t necessarily need a Grammy to validate their success.

He argued that music is an opinion-based business and that artists had already won if people were buying tickets to their shows and singing their songs.

The telecast famously cut to commercial while Drake was still speaking, which immediately created controversy over whether the Grammys had intentionally silenced him.

The Recording Academy later said producers believed Drake had finished his speech after he paused and offered him an opportunity to return to the stage, which he reportedly declined.

Whatever the production explanation, the moment became symbolic of Drake’s increasingly uncomfortable relationship with the institution.

The Weeknd’s 2021 Snub Pushed Drake Further Away

Drake became even more publicly critical after The Weeknd received zero nominations for the 2021 Grammys despite the enormous success of After Hours and “Blinding Lights.”

The Weeknd called the Grammys “corrupt.”

Drake publicly supported him.

“I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards,” Drake wrote at the time, according to Stereogum’s recap of his statement.

Drake argued that what had once been regarded as the industry’s highest form of recognition might no longer carry the same meaning for contemporary artists.

Five years later, his 2027 decision is consistent with that position.

Drake Previously Withdrew Grammy Nominations

Drake has gone beyond simply criticizing the Grammys.

He has actively withdrawn from the process.

After receiving nominations for the 2022 Grammys, Drake withdrew his entries for Certified Lover Boy and “Way 2 Sexy,” removing himself from competition in Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance.

He then declined to submit Honestly, Nevermind for the following Grammy cycle.

Rolling Stone notes that his history of withholding projects stretches even further back, including his decision not to submit More Life for the 2018 Grammys.

So ICEMAN, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR aren’t an isolated protest.

They are the continuation of a pattern.

But Drake Hasn’t Completely Disappeared From the Grammys

There is an important complication.

Drake’s Grammy relationship isn’t a total boycott in which everything bearing his name is automatically kept out.

His collaborative album with 21 Savage, Her Loss, was submitted for the 2024 Grammys and received nominations, including Best Rap Album. Killer Mike’s Michael ultimately won that category.

Drake has also continued appearing in Grammy races through collaborations.

Most recently, “Somebody Loves Me,” from his joint PARTYNEXTDOOR project $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, received a Best Melodic Rap Performance nomination at the 2026 ceremony. Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” won.

That makes the pattern more specific than saying Drake has simply refused anything to do with the Grammys.

His own solo releases have increasingly been withheld while collaborative material has occasionally remained in the process.

He Has Five Grammys

Drake is not protesting an institution that has never recognized him.

He has won five Grammy Awards over his career and accumulated dozens of nominations.

Stereogum puts his career nomination total at 55, noting that his fifth Grammy came through his appearance on Future’s “Wait for U.”

That history makes his current position more interesting.

Drake knows exactly what Grammy recognition feels like.

He has won.

He has attended.

He has accepted trophies.

And he has still repeatedly chosen to remove his own music from consideration.

The Kendrick Lamar Context Is Impossible to Ignore

Drake’s Grammy decision also arrives in a dramatically different environment than some of his earlier withdrawals.

The Recording Academy became part of the cultural aftermath of his feud with Kendrick Lamar when Lamar’s “Not Like Us” swept all five categories in which it was nominated at the 2025 Grammys.

Drake later sued Universal Music Group over the promotion and release of “Not Like Us,” alleging the song contained defamatory accusations and that UMG improperly amplified it. A federal judge dismissed the case in 2025, and Drake appealed; oral arguments are scheduled for December 2026.

The Grammy wins themselves aren’t the legal basis of that dispute.

But culturally, they matter.

One of the most damaging diss records ever aimed at Drake wasn’t merely commercially successful. It received the music industry’s most prominent awards recognition.

Drake then returned in 2026 with three albums — and has now declined to let the same institution evaluate any of them.

No public statement reviewed Tuesday establishes that Kendrick’s Grammy sweep is the reason for Drake’s decision, so that shouldn’t be presented as fact.

Drake’s dissatisfaction with the Recording Academy predates the Kendrick feud by many years.

The Decision Could Reshape the Rap Categories

Removing three Drake albums and their songs from the entry pool eliminates a substantial amount of commercially prominent rap music from this year’s Grammy conversation.

It doesn’t mean Drake would have won.

It doesn’t mean he necessarily would have been nominated in every category where he submitted.

Grammy nominations are determined by Recording Academy voting members, not sales or streaming rankings alone.

But voters now won’t have to make those decisions.

Drake made the decision for them.

The Timing Makes the Story Even Bigger

The first round of voting for the 2027 Grammys begins Oct. 12 and runs through Oct. 22. Nominations will be announced Nov. 16.

The ceremony itself takes place Feb. 7, 2027 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and will air across ABC, Disney+ and Hulu.

By the time voters begin filling out their ballots next week, Drake’s three albums won’t be options.

That is unusual considering how much music he released during the eligibility period.

The Grammys Are Changing at the Same Time Drake Is Staying Away

The 2027 ceremony will also mark a period of change for the Recording Academy.

Five new categories are being introduced, while several existing rules have been updated. The Academy also lowered the percentage of newly recorded material required for an album to qualify as a new album from 75% to 66%.

The telecast is also moving into a new era after decades associated with CBS, with the 2027 ceremony airing through ABC, Disney+ and Hulu.

Drake, however, appears uninterested in using the institutional reset as an opportunity to reenter the solo Grammy race.

This Wasn’t a Surprise Snub — Drake Told Everyone

Perhaps the most striking part of the story is how little ambiguity Drake left.

Months before Grammy voting began, he put his position directly into his music.

“This album, I’m never submittin’ it.”

Fans could have interpreted the line as another boast, another grievance or simply another jab at an awards institution Drake has criticized for years.

Now it reads differently.

He apparently meant it.

And he didn’t stop with ICEMAN.

According to the reporting, HABIBTI is out.

MAID OF HONOUR is out.

The songs are out.

One of the biggest artists of the streaming era released three full-length projects during a single Grammy eligibility year and has chosen not to enter any of them into the race.

When nominations arrive Nov. 16, Drake won’t be waiting to find out whether Grammy voters embraced his 2026 comeback.

He never gave them the choice.