Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” became the de facto song of 2024 when it dropped in May, and now it’s a Grammy Award winner.
The diss track aimed at rapper Drake topped the Billboard singles charts and crowned Lamar as the victor of the long-simmering beef between the two artists. Lamar is a double Grammy nominee in two categories thanks to another song that fueled the feud: “Like That” by Future and Metro Boomin, which features Lamar. Through his verse in the March track, Lamar rejected the idea that he, Drake and J. Cole were on the same level. Cole had implied this in a verse in Drake’s 2023 song “First Person Shooter.”
Lamar was nominated for five awards for “Not Like Us”: record of the year, song of the year, rap song, rap performance and music video.
During the Grammys Premiere Ceremony Sunday afternoon, the song picked up awards for rap song, rap performance and music video. It won both song of the year and record of the year in the evening ceremony.
Lamar beat out stiff competition to take home record of the year, including the Beatles with the AI-concocted song “Now and Then.” Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and producer Giles Martin created the record using a 1980 John Lennon demo recording and AI technology. The category also was crowded with smash hits: Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” and Charli XCX’s “360.” Grammy darlings Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish also were nominated for their respective hits of the year, “Fortnight” and “Birds of a Feather.”
As Lamar walked up to accept the award, nearly the entire crowd sang out the “A minor” when the song played.
The frontrunner for song of the year was Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” which the singer co-wrote with Daniel Nigro and Justin Tranter. Lamar also beat fan favorites “Texas Hold ’Em” (performed by Beyoncé), “Birds of a Feather” (Billie Eilish), “Please, Please, Please” (Sabrina Carpenter), “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” (Shaboozey), “Fortnight” (Taylor Swift with Post Malone) and “Die With a Smile” (Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga).
Lamar and “Not Like Us” took home the award for rap song, besting several artists, including himself. He also was nominated for his collaboration with Future and Metro Boomin for “Like That.” GloRilla, Rapsody with Hit-Boy, Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign under the artist name ¥$, and Rich the Kid with Playboi Carti were also nominated.
Lamar beat Eminem, Common, Pete Rock and Posdnuos to win the Grammy for rap performance. Lamar was also nominated alongside his collaborators Future and Metro Boomin for “Like That.” Eminem was nominated for “Houdini”; Common, Pete Rock and Posdnuos were nominated for “When the Sun Shines Again”; Cardi B was nominated for “Enough (Miami)”; and newcomers GloRilla and Doechii were nominated for “Yeah Glo!” and “Nissan Altima,” respectively.
For the video he shot in his hometown of Compton, Lamar took home the Grammy for music video. Fellow rappers Eminem and ASAP Rocky were nominated for “Houdini” and “Tailor Swif.” And Swift herself was nominated, as was Charli XCX, for “Fortnight” and “360,” respectively.
Before Sunday, Lamar already had 17 Grammys. The artist is gearing up for his performance at the Super Bowl halftime show in just a week. Although it’s unclear whether he’ll be performing “Not Like Us” on the field, his Juneteenth show at the Kia Forum might be some indication: He performed it there six times in a row to raucous applause.
