The wins keep coming for Kendrick Lamar. Not only did the TDE rapper score three Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s last year, but one of those songs – “Not Like Us” – just nabbed him the Grammy Award for record of the year at the 2025 ceremony on Sunday (Feb. 2) evening.
The Drake diss track has spurred a number of legal actions from Drizzy, but that didn’t deter members of the Recording Academy for voting the song into Big Four Grammy glory.
Although Lamar was thinking about Drake when he went into the booth to record “Not Like Us,” the OVO boss seemingly wasn’t on his mind when he took the stage at the Crypto.com Arena to accept the award. He thanked God and paid tribute to his aunt, who he said had passed away yesterday. “She’s probably watching it up there so make sure y’all got your smiles on right now make her feel right,” he said. Giving shoutouts to Dr. Dre and Swizz Beatz in the audience (both of whom have produced songs by Lamar), he dedicated his win to the city of Los Angeles, which is still reeling from devastating wildfires.
“We gonna dedicate this one to the city, Compton, Watts, Long Beach, Inglewood, Hollywood, out to the Valley,” he said. “This is my neck of the woods that held me down since I was a young pup. I can’t give enough thanks to these places that I rode around since high school. Most importantly, the people and the families out in the Palisades and Altadena, this is a true testament that we can continue to restore this city.”
The category was a tough one for pundits to predict. The other nominees were “Now and Then” by the Beatles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyoncé, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter, “360” by Charli XCX, “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish, “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chappell Roan and “Fortnight” by Taylor Swift feat. Post Malone.
