
10 Best and Worst Moments at 2016 Grammy Awards
The 2016 Grammy Awards are in the books and it was a banner year for hip-hop. Music's biggest night was shrouded in controversy, rumors, performance cancellations, snubs and surprises.
Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar was the man of the night, being nominated for 11 awards, the second most nominated artist after Michael Jackson. K. Dot accepted many of the night's awards before the show began and earned a big look with his Best Rap Album win. Though he didn't walk away with any golden gramophones this year, 2015 XXL Freshman Fetty Wap brought Jersey to Hollywood for his two Grammy nominations. Zoo Gang glow up!
On the performance tip, Kendrick gave an electric, politically-charged performance of songs from his 2015 album, To Pimp a Butterfly; The Weeknd reworked his Grammys performance last minute and Rihanna cancelled her performance of "Kiss It Better" due to bronchitis. While all this and more was going down at Los Angeles' Staple Center, music fans at home went crazy on social media when Kendrick lost out in the Album of the Year category to Taylor Swift and rumors began to swirl that Beyonce was about to drop her album (thankfully, she held off.)
If you happened to miss this year's show, XXL has you covered with the best and worst parts that went down. Check out XXL's full coverage of the 2016 Grammys from the red carpet looks to the winner’s list as well.
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Best: A$AP Rocky Brings A$AP Yams' Mom as His Date
A$AP Mob's most famous MC, A$AP Rocky, is more often known for his fashionable ways and braggadocios bars, but it was his Grammys date who made the headlines on the red carpet this time. Rocky walked the carpet accompanied by A$AP Yams’ mother, Tatianna Paulino.
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Worst: Rap Loses Out in the Song of the Year Category
British crooner Ed Sheeran won Song of the Year for his 2015 hit "Thinking Out Loud," beating out Kendrick Lamar's "Alright," Taylor Swift's "Blank Space," Little Big Town's "Girl Crush" and Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" featuring Charlie Puth. Though K. Dot's "Alright" has come to be an anthem for the Black community, you can't win 'em all right? And in Ed Sheeran's defense, he is a huge hip-hop head.
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Best: Kendrick Lamar Wins 5 out of 11 Awards
Kendrick Lamar won five out of 11 gramophones for the night. K. Dot walked away with the awards for Best Rap Album for To Pimp a Butterfly, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for "Alright," Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "These Walls" and Best Music Video for his work in Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" video. Congrats, Kendrick!
Kevork Djansezian, Getty ImagesKevork Djansezian, Getty Images - 4
Worst: Hip-Hop Lost Out on the Album of the Year Category
Though millions of Kendrick's fans thought he would have had a clean sweep at this year's ceremony, the Compton MC lost out in the last, most important category of the night, Album of the Year. Taylor Swift won in the category for her 2015 album, 1989. In her acceptance speech, she seemingly took a jab at Kanye West.
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Best: Kendrick Lamar's Grammys Performance
Operation King Kendrick was in full effect when the rapper delivered a powerful Grammys performance of his hit singles, "Blacker the Berry and "Alright," complete with prison imagery, a bonfire and African dancers.
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Worst: Lauryn Hill Cancels Her Performance with The Weeknd
Why, Lauryn, why? The rapper backed out of her surprise performance with The Weeknd last minute because, as it turns out, it wasn't actually confirmed. A rep said the last minute nature to hit the stage fell through. But the Grammys President has a different version of events and revealed "she did not get back in time to make the show." What a tease.
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Best: The Weeknd's Grammys Performance
Even though he didn't have Lauryn by his side, The Weeknd, now a two-time Grammy Award winner, gave a thrilling live rendition of “Can’t Feel My Face” and brought along a pianist for “In the Night,” which caused the audience to give him a standing ovation.
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Best: The Sexy Ladies on the Red Carpet
Ciara, Kehlani, Vanessa Simmons and many more ladies showed up sexy as ever to heat up the Grammys red carpet before the show even started. Check out all the sultry looks in our Eye Candy gallery below.
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Best: LL Cool J as Host
Hosting the show for a fourth year in a row, LL Cool J never looked more comfortable in front of the camera. The verdict is still out on how many times LL licked his lips. Stay tuned.
Kevork Djansezian, Getty ImagesKevork Djansezian, Getty Images - 10
Best: The Internet Memes
Of course, the internet went crazy with the memes during the night's ceremony, making fun of everything from every corny fashion faux pas to snubbed artists to the best performances. Check out the funniest memes here.
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