Jay Z to Receive Special GLAAD Awards Recognition For Song, ‘Smile’, Which Honours Lesbian Mother

Jay Z’s 4:44 album has received some major nods on the award show circuit. Leading the pack at the 2018 Grammy Awards with 8 nominations, the rapper now has another exciting award nod to add to the growing list.

GLAAD recently revealed that the Brooklyn native would be receiving the Special Recognition award at this year’s GLAAD Media Awards for his track, Smile. Featuring a powerful poem from his mother, Gloria Carter, Smile follows Jay Z as he reveals for the first time that his mother is a lesbian. “Mama had four kids, but she’s a lesbian/Had to pretend so long that she’s a thespian,” he raps.

Smile isn’t Jay-Z’s first time showing love to the LGBTQ community. Back when the debate over same sex marriage was brewing in 2012, he said during a chat with CNN, “What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business.”

The GLAAD Media Awards will also be recognizing other LGBT-inclusive projects of the past year in its nominations, many of whom echo Golden Globe winners and nominees. Film nominations include Lady Bird, which won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, as well as The Shape of Water and Call Me By Your Name. The Handmaid’s Tale, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, This Is Us and Feud: Bette and Joan are among the television honorees. News stories made the list, too. The New Yorker and Nightline were nominated for their coverage on persecution of gay and bi men in Chechnya.

TIME was nominated for outstanding overall magazine coverage, and the March 2017 cover story “Beyond ‘He’ or ‘She’: The Changing Meaning of Gender and Sexuality” by Katy Steinmetz received a nod for outstanding magazine article along with the New York Times Magazine story on the HIV epidemic and Rolling Stone’s story on trans teens who were homeless and others.

The GLAAD Media Awards is set to take place on April 2.