Kendrick Lamar kicked off Black Historical past Month by reaching a significant hip-hop milestone on the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Nominated for 9 awards for his November 2024 shock album “GNX,” stuffed with songs and references which can be an homage to Black tradition, Lamar gained 5 — turning into the hip-hop artist with essentially the most Grammys in historical past.
With 27 Grammy awards, the celebrated rapper, who carried out finally 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl, has now surpassed Jay-Z’s report of 25 and Kanye West, who has 24.
In accepting the Finest Rap Album of the Yr award, the artist emphasised the significance of hip-hop on total tradition.
“Hip-hop is gonna at all times be proper right here,” he declared.
As Lamar made hip-hop historical past, the night — that includes memorable moments equivalent to Lauryn Hill honoring the late artists D’Angelo and Roberta Flack — highlighted the historic affect of Black artists on tradition total.
“Joyful as a result of Black excellence gained on Black Historical past Month,” one social media consumer wrote on X, previously generally known as Twitter.
Lamar’s historic night time on the 68th Grammys comes at a time when variety, fairness and inclusion (DEI) and Black narratives are underneath federal assault. As a rapper, Lamar unapologetically references Black tradition with songs equivalent to “TV Off,” which gained Finest Rap Tune, and “Chains & Whips,” which gained Finest Rap Efficiency, a class created lower than 40 years in the past and first awarded in 1989.
The barrier-breaking rapper additionally gained Document of the Yr alongside Sza for the track “Luther,” named after the late legendary singer Luther Vandross, whose 1982 track with Cheryl Lynn, “If This World Had been Mine,” was sampled for the track. When saying the winner, the celebrated singer Cher by accident mentioned the Grammy was to be awarded to Vandross, versus for the track named in his honor.
Whereas she rapidly clarified her phrases, and the viewers and artists alike handled Cher’s mix-up as an trustworthy mistake, Lamar additionally emphasised the significance of utilizing the pattern.
“That is particular for me,” Lamar mentioned. “[Vandross] is considered one of my favourite artists of all time. They granted us the privilege to do our model of it. After we acquired that clearance, I promise you, we rattling close to all dropped a tear, as a result of we all know how a lot [Vandross] and Cheryl Lynn poured into that report. And having the ability to put our vocals on it, proves that we had been considerably worthy to be simply as nice as them people.”
In accepting the award, singer SZA used the second to supply encouragement for all these tuning in.
“I simply need to say thanks to Kendrick for lifting me up. I simply am a small a part of this report, however what I actually wished to say is please don’t fall into despair,” she instructed the group and followers watching from dwelling. “I do know that proper now’s a scary time. I do know the algorithms inform us that it’s so scary, and all is misplaced. There’s been world wars, there’s been plagues, and we now have gone on. We will go on, we want one another.”
