Kendrick Lamar is cementing his name in the history books.
The 37-year-old rapper took home five honors at the 2025 Grammys on Sunday. Overall, Lamar has been nominated 57 times for a Grammy and is one of the most celebrated rappers in Grammy history.
How many Grammys did Kendrick Lamar win at the 2025 Grammys?
At the 67th Grammy Awards, Lamar won five Grammys, including best music video, best rap performance, best rap song, song of the year and record of the year, all for his hit “Not Like Us.”
How many Grammy wins does Kendrick Lamar have?
Kendrick Lamar, winner of the Record Of The Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, Best Music Video, and Song Of The Year awards, poses during the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Feb. 2, 2025.
Monica Schipper/Getty Images
Lamar’s 2025 Grammy wins bring his total Grammy Award count to 22. He won his first two Grammys in 2015 for best rap song and best rap performance for “I.”
Lamar has been writing lyrics and songs since he was a teenager in high school and released his first mixtape in 2003 under the stage name K.Dot. His sound mixes rap with jazz and funk elements and lyrical storytelling, such as with 2011’s “Rigamortus” and 2015’s “King Kunta.”
The Compton, California, native has quickly catapulted to hip-hop stardom with albums like “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City,” “To Pimp a Butterfly” and “DAMN,” the last of which won the Pulitzer Prize in music in 2018, having been recognized for “its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism” that highlights “the complexity of modern African-American life.”
His most recent album, “GNX,” released in November 2024, features guests such as SZA, Dody6, and Lefty GunPlay. The surprise release includes the tracks “wacced out murals,” which appears to call out music industry heavyweights and addresses Lil Wayne being snubbed for the Super Bowl halftime show, and “heart pt. 6,” seemingly named after a diss track released by Drake.
What is the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake?
Kendrick Lamar accepts the Record of the Year award for ‘Not Like Us’ onstage during the 67th Annual GRAMMY Awards, Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles.
Kendrick Lamar and fellow rapper Drake’s rap feud came to a head in the summer of 2024, with the two competing for fans, lyricism, and beats, and taking the feud to new levels with more diss tracks and more personal accusations.
In May 2024, Lamar released “6:16 in LA” and Drake followed with “Family Matters.”
Lamar subsequently released “Meet the Grahams,” followed by “Not Like Us” and “heart pt. 6.”
“heart pt. 6” features provocative lyrics including, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young” and “You better not ever go to cell block one.” Drake has since sued his music label Universal Music Group for defamation, claiming the label promoted label mate Lamar’s song and alleged “UMG approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track which was intended to convey the specific, unmistakeable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile.”
The music label fired back in a response, saying Drake “intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous, back-and-forth rap battles to express his feelings about other artists. He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression.”
Who is Kendrick Lamar’s fiancee Whitney Alford?
Lamar and his fiancee Whitney Alford have been linked for years, and the longtime couple share two children. Alford and their kids are even featured in the music video for “Not Like Us,” with the family dancing together in a living room as Lamar raps, “The family matter and the truth of the matter. It was God’s plan to show y’all the liar.”
Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show: What to expect
Lamar is set to perform the Super Bowl halftime show Feb. 9 at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Lamar is expected to feature singer-songwriter SZA in the performance, with whom he collaborated on two songs — “luther” and “gloria” — for “GNX,” his latest album.
“Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date. And I’ll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one,” Lamar said in a September 2024 press release announcing the performance.
Seth Dudowsky, the head of music at the NFL, also praised Lamar’s “unique ability to craft moments that resonate, redefine, and ultimately shake the very foundation of hip-hop.”
“We’re excited to collaborate with Kendrick, Roc Nation, and Apple Music to deliver another unforgettable Halftime Show,” said Dudowsky.
