Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” became the de facto song of 2024 when it was released in May, and it is now a Grammy Award winner.
The diss track aimed at rapper Drake topped the Billboard singles chart, crowning Lamar as the winner of the long-running feud 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, on which he appears.
Lamar’s verse in the March track challenged the notion that he, Drake, and J. Cole were on the same level. Cole hinted at this in a verse from Drake’s 2023 single “First Person Shooter.”
Lamar received five nominations for “Not Like Us”: record of the year, song of the year, rap song, rap performance, and music video.
The song won awards for rap song, rap performance, and music video at the Grammy Premiere Ceremony on Sunday afternoon. It won song of the year and record of the year at the evening ceremony.
Lamar defeated stiff competition to win record of the year, including the Beatles with the AI-created song “Now and Then.” The record was created by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and producer Giles Martin using a John Lennon demo recording from 1980 and AI technology.
The category was also crowded with smash hits: Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!” and Charli XCX’s “360.” Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish were also nominated for the year’s biggest hits, “Fortnight” and “Birds of a Feather.”
When Lamar walked up to accept the award, nearly the entire audience sang out “A minor” as the song played.
The frontrunner for song of the year was Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!”, which she co-wrote with Daniel Nigro and Justin Tranter.
Lamar also outperformed 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 and Post Malone), and “Die With a Smile” (Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga).
Lamar and “Not Like Us” won the award for rap song, beating out several other artists, including himself. He was also nominated for his collaboration with Future and Metro Boomin on “Like That.” GloRilla, Rapsody featuring Hit-Boy, Kanye West, and Ty Dolla The artist ¥$, as well as Rich the Kid and Playboi Carti, received nominations.
Lamar defeated Eminem, Common, Pete Rock, and Posdnuos to win the Grammy for rap performance. Lamar was nominated alongside Future and Metro Boomin for “Like That.”
Eminem was nominated for “Houdini,” Common, Pete Rock, and Posdnuos for “When the Sun Shines Again,” Cardi B for “Enough (Miami),” and newcomers GloRilla and Doechii for “Yeah Glo!” and “Nissan Altima.”
Lamar won the Grammy for music video for a video he shot in Compton, his hometown. Rappers Eminem and ASAP Rocky were nominated for “Houdini” and “Tailor Swif.” Swift and Charli XCX were both nominated for “Fortnight” and “360,” respectively.
Before Sunday, Lamar had already won 17 Grammys. The artist is preparing for his performance at the Super Bowl halftime show in just a week. Although it is unclear whether he will perform “Not Like Us” on the field, his performance at the Kia Forum on June 19th may provide some indication: He performed it six times in a row to thunderous applause.
