Los Angeles, Dec 8 (IANS): Rapper Drake has withdrawn his Grammy Award nominations for 'Certified lover boy'.

The hit record was previously nominated for the Best Rap Album gong, while 'Way 2 Sexy' was nominated for the Best Rap Performance accolade - but Drake and his management have withdrawn the nominations, according to Variety, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Drake took the decision after previously criticising the organisers for not nominating The Weeknd for any awards for his hit album 'After Hours'.

He said at the time: "I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after."

Drake, who is one of the world's best-selling artists, also discussed the controversy on his Instagram account.

Multiple Grammy winner, Drake wrote on the photo-sharing platform: "It's like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just can't change their ways. The other day I said @theweeknd was a lock for either album or song of the year along with countless other reasonable assumptions and it just never goes that way. (sic)"

He also compared award shows to the world of professional sport, noting that unlike NBA players, he competes in an "opinion-based sport".

The 'Back to Back' hitmaker said: "I want you to know we play in an opinion-based sport, not a factual-based sport. This is not the NBA where at the end of the year, you're holding a trophy because you made the right decisions or won the games."