Before the main 2012 Grammy Award broadcast even started, Kanye West had already won three awards.
During the non-televised pre-show, the rapper won Best Rap Song and Best Rap Collaboration with "All Of The Lights" (with Rihanna, Fergie, Elly Jackson, Elton John and more). He also won Best Rap Album for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy .
He and Jay-Z won Best Rap Performance for "Otis," their track off Watch The Throne, bringing West's total for the evening to four awards. Neither West nor Jay-Z were present to accept their award. Jay-Z is, of course, a new father and West had said he would never attend another award show after his 2009 incident with Taylor Swift.
West was not nominated for Best Album, a snub that had many scratching their heads. He was also for nominated for Best Rap Album for his collaboration with Jay-Z, Watch The Throne.
Jay-Z has long criticized the show for overlooking many major rap acts. "Rappers deserve more attention from the Grammy committee and from the whole world," he said in 2002. "If it's got a gun everybody knows about it; but if we go on a world tour, no one knows."
West led the 2012 Grammy pack with seven nominations, but he was competing against himself for both Best Rap Song ("Otis" and "All Of The Lights") and Best Rap Album (Watch The Throne and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy). The other nominees in the Best Rap Album category were Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco and Nicki Minaj for Best Rap Album. West now has an astounding 18 career Grammy wins.