Kendrick Lamar had another great night at the Grammys! He is now the rapper with the most Grammys in history (27), dethroning Jay-Z. Kendrick picked up Best Rap Album for GNX, which is honestly an amazing album. I kind of thought GNX would win Album of the Year, but AOTY ended up going to Bad Bunny (which was well-deserved, I just loved GNX). Significantly, Kendrick has also picked up back-to-back Record of the Year Grammys. Last year, he won for “Not Like Us.” This year, he won for “Luther.” Cher presented ROTY, and it was chaos:
Cher had a lighthearted onstage moment at the 2026 Grammys after briefly stumbling while announcing Record of the Year. The music icon had just been honored with the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 1 when she returned to the stage to present the award.
Appearing momentarily flustered, Cher initially read out “Luther Vandross” — the late singer whose work inspired the winning track — before quickly correcting herself and naming the actual winners, Kendrick Lamar and SZA, for their song “Luther.”
“And the Grammy goes to… Oh! They told me it was going to be on a prompter,” Cher, 79, said. “Oh, the Grammy goes to Luther Vandross. Oh Kendrick, no Kendrick Lamar!”
The moment was met with laughter inside the arena as the camera cut to Kendrick in the audience, who appeared to chuckle as he realized he had won. As Kendrick and SZA walked to the stage, Cher appeared to mouth, “I’m so sorry” before stepping aside.
“Luther,” from Kendrick’s 2024 album GNX, samples Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn’s 1982 duet “If This World Were Mine,” a connection that several members of the creative team referenced during the acceptance speech.
“This is what music is about. Luther Vandross, this, this is special for me. I gotta take my time,” the rapper, 38, began. “It’s one of my favorite artists of all time, and they granted us the privilege to do our version of this. When we got that clearance, I promise you, we definitely all dropped a tear, because we know how much him and Cheryl Lynn poured into that record.”
“And being able to put our vocals of it, it proves that we were somewhat worthy to be just as great as them individuals,” he continued. “And they granted us that, you know, they said, ‘No cursing, though — can’t curse on it.’ That was the only thing, right? And we said, ‘You know what we’re looking to do just that, no cursing.’ We’re going to make sure that this song represents love. So I want to appreciate and give thanks to SZA.”
That’s cool that Luther Vandeross’s estate told Kendrick and his team that they could have the rights to the song as long as there was no cursing. It’s a great song. Anyway, Kendrick had a great time, and he was surprisingly (?) the one who didn’t talk about politics. His little tuxedo was cute as hell too.
Photos courtesy of Getty Images, screencap courtesy of the Grammys.
I’m not surprised he didn’t talk about politics. He said what he had to say at the Superbowl and it’s time for other people to speak up.
He is political in so many ways. He didn’t need to.
The Cher mistake was wholesome. I like when humanity shines through imperfections. It was beautiful. It made the moment and acceptance playful and lighthearted.
I’m so proud of Kendrick Lamar. I enjoy listening to GNX. It’s the first hip hop album I’ve ever listened to. I’ve listened to it numerous times and each time without any skips.
I’ve now bought all of Kendrick’s albums and listened to them. I’ve gone back and watched his prior performances and videos and connect to his music and storytelling because to me he seems to fully embody the music and narrative when he delivers the lyrics. I feel the emotions he is conveying with his words and inflections, his ad-libs, the sharpness or the softness of what he says, the rhythm of the words and instruments together. The guy is an artist through and through. He deserves it all.
I’m happy for him and wish him the very best in his life and work. 🙏
What a great comment. Agree 100%.
Adorable. The return of the cumberbund! What a cutie. It’s almost the anniversary of his epic superbowl performance and his iconic jeans. Love the story behind this song.
This kind of recognition for KL is so well-deserved.
And his Chanel tux was *very* cute.
There is just no one doing music at the level Mr. Lamar is doing music.
Don’t get me wrong, lots of great music out there.
Mr. Lamarr has a pulitzer prize for his album Damn.
Popular musicians with a pulitzer- he is the whole list.
(all other music rewarded by pulitzer in its history are jazz and classical compositions).
Love that they didn’t want him to curse on the record.
27 Grammys! Congrats to Kendrick! The song Luther is fine but I prefer the original song. If This World Were Mine remains one of my favorite Luther Vandross ballads and I always wished that he and Cheryl Lynn had done more duets because of both of their amazing voices. Kendrick continues to impress me and the love and the utmost respect he showed for Luther was very sweet in his speech for ROTY and by the fact there wasn’t any cussing as his estate requested. Luther Vandross was criminally underrated as a singer, songwriter and producer. Luther is the perfect example of a singer who understood how to use his voice as a musical instrument as he truly mastered his. His live concert performances were and still are spectacular!
I was so proud of Kendrick! I had heard of him before the beef but I truly discovered his music afterwards. His authenticity his integrity and his immense talent as a rapper and storyteller is what has endeared him to me. His music resonates with me from Section 80 all the way to GNX. The only album I haven’t listened to yet is overly dedicated but his music makes you take your time and every time you listen to a song you hear some thing new nearly every time. You can spend a really long time with his catalogue. He really is a cut above the rest. I love watching reactions of first timers listening to his music.
I highly recommend watching Josh Johnson’s stand-up about Kendrick’s Super Bowl performance. It made me love the performance even more.