LAMAR’S ‘NOT LIKE US’ A HUGE WINNER

LOS ANGELES. — Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” was an early winner at the Grammys’ Premiere Ceremony, receiving trophies for music video, rap song and rap performance.

It marked his seventh time winning in that last category.

But it was his presence during the main broadcast that really made a splash.

One of the biggest global hits of 2024, his Drake diss track won song and record of the year — only the second hip-hop single to ever win record of the year.

By the end of the night, “Not Like Us” had won all five awards for which it was nominated.

Lamar’s recognitions arrived the year after Jay-Z criticised the Grammys for ignoring the rap legends before him — those who brought hip-hop to the preeminent music award show, only to have rap categories not make the official broadcast.

Beyoncé’s album of the year victory was widely thought long overdue.

The superstar had four of her albums nominated in the category before winning on her fifth.

“I Am… Sasha Fierce” lost to Taylor Swift for “Fearless” in 2010.

“In 2015, her self-titled album “Beyoncé” lost to Beck’s “Morning Phase” and Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” beat “Renaissance” in 2023. Perhaps most infamously, though, was the loss of “Lemonade” to Adele’s “25.”

“I can’t possibly accept this award. And I’m very humbled, and I’m very grateful and gracious, but my artist of my life is Beyoncé,” Adele said in her 2017 acceptance speech, holding back tears.

In winning album of the year Sunday, Beyoncé became the first black woman to win the top prize in the 21st century.

The last was Lauryn Hill with “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” 26 years ago.

Before her were Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston, and the list ends there.

Emily Lordi, a Vanderbilt University professor whose focus is African American literature and Black popular music, describes “Cowboy Carter” as “an album with a capital A — one that explicitly aims to restore the Black roots and routes of country, a genre long coded as white. It is the kind of historic intervention the academy could not fail to recognise — it was undeniable.”

Even Grammys’ host Trevor Noah couldn’t help but acknowledge the milestone:

“We finally saw it happen, everyone,” he said.

That, we did.