Kendrick Lamar’s ‘DAMN.’ Wins Best Rap Album at 2018 Grammy Awards
Tell us if this sounds familiar: Kendrick Lamar wins. Just a little less than an hour after earning the trophy for Best Rap/Sung Performance, K. Dot's taken home a big W for Best Rap Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards.
In winning this trophy, K. Dot, and his universally acclaimed DAMN. album, secured a victory over the likes of JAY-Z (4:44), Rapsody (Laila's Wisdom), Migos (Culture) and Tyler, The Creator (Flower Boy). Needless to say, all of those albums were insanely dope, but K. Dot's DAMN. emerged victorious.
With its combination of visceral lyrics, impassioned storytelling and dynamic production, K. Dot's latest album was always awards show-bound. On top of all the critical success, it's also checked off just about all the boxes for commercial success.
Speaking on his win, K. Dot gave thanks to hip-hop as a culture for giving him the opportunity to spread his story to the world at large. He starts off by giving a shoutout to his fellow California MC, Mozzy.
"As my guy Mozzy say, you know, God up top, all the time, real talk, you know." "Hip-hop man. I said Hip-hop. This is a special award because of rap music. This is the thing that got me onstage, this got me the tour around the world, supporting my family and all that. Most importantly, it showed me what the true definition of what being a artist was."
He continues, "You know, from the jump I thought it was about the accolades and the cars and the clothes, but it's really about expressing yourself and putting that paint on the canvas for the world to evolve for the next listener, and the next generation after that, know what I'm saying? Hip-hop has done that for me. I got a lot of guys in this building right now that I still idolize to this day. JAY-Z, Nas, Puff, you know. These guys showed me the game through their lyrics; from up close and from afar. So with that being said, this trophy to hip-hop, real talk, that's love baby. Jay for president!"
Check out K. Dot's touching acceptance speech for yourself below. Keep track of the night's winners by checking out XXL's 2018 Grammy Awards winners list.
See Rappers on the 2018 Grammy Awards Red Carpet