The 67th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was a much-awaited spectacle. Some of the biggest heavy-hitters in the music industry dropped their most out-the-box music, such as Beyonce with Cowboy Carter, while others shook the globe with electrifying production and shocking songwriting such as with “Not Like Us”. It was a night of records, firsts, and mouth-dropping moments at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.
The greatest and arguably the biggest winner is LA superstar Kendrick Lamar.
The Compton-born rapper and singer-songwriter had a year for the books in 2024, particularly for his beef with Toronto rival Drake. Nominated for seven awards – and earning double nods in two categories – Lamar did a clean sweep with his diss hit “Not Like Us”, scooping all fiveawards he was nominated for as the primary artist, including the much-vaunted about Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
Apart from rocking up in a Canadian tuxedo with a matching cap – an outfit choice which could very well be interpreted as a slight dig at the “Hotline Bling” hitmaker – Kendrick Lamar’s win for the Record of the Year was one of the event’s highlights as the moment saw Taylor Swift and Beyonce (nominees in the category themselves) dance to the sound of the music while the crowd can be heard chorusing “A minorrrrrrr”.
The 2025 Grammy Awards, in additon, was a ceremony of many firsts and long overdue wins.
The most-spoken about turn of events came from living music icon Beyonce, who made history with her country album Cowboy Carter. Taking home three Grammys to extend her record to 35 wins, she became the first Black woman to win Best Country Album as well as the first Black woman to win that elusive Album of the Year award since since Lauryn Hill.
American rappers Doechii and Rapsody were honoured with their first career Grammys for Best Rap Album and Best Melodic Rap Performance, respectively. With their wins, Doechii became the first female rapper to claim the award with a mixtape, and the second hip–hop artist after Chance the Rapper with Coloring Book, while Rapsody became the firstfemale to take home Best Melodic Rap Peformance since the gong was renamed in 2021.
Nigerian singer-songwriter won her first Grammy as a primary artist for “Love Me JeJe” under the Best African Music Performance category. It is her second award, the first being Best Rap Song for Drake’s “Wait For U”, in which shefeatured alongside American trap superstar Future.
