Few artists have shaped modern hip-hop as much as Kendrick Lamar. Whether it’s dropping deep, hard-hitting lyrics or making sure his rivals regret the day they beefed with him, Lamar is easily one of the most formidable and influential forces in the music industry today. The best part? He has the track record to prove it, too.
Considered among the greatest rappers of all time, Lamar has taken the Grammys by storm in the last few years. With a whopping 22 wins to his name, he is the third-highest awarded rapper at the Grammy Awards in history!
Kanye West and Jay-Z are not far behind Lamar, with 24 and 25 wins, respectively. Given how things have been going lately, it’s only a matter of time before Lamar grabs the top spot for himself
Here are all the Grammys Lamar has won, starting from 2015:
YearRecipientCategory2015IBest Rap Performance2015IBest Rap Song2016AlrightBest Rap Performance2016AlrightBest Rap Song2016To Pimp a ButterflyBest Rap Album2016Bad Blood (Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar)Best Music Video2016These Walls (ft. Bilal, Anna Wise, and Thundercat)Best Rap/Sung Performance2018Humble Best Rap Performance2018HumbleBest Rap Song2018HumbleBest Music Video2018DamnBest Rap Album2018Loyalty (ft. Rihanna)Best Rap/Sung Performance2019King’s Dead (Jay Rock featuring Kendrick Lamar, Future, and James Blake)Best Rap Performance2022Family TiesBest Rap Performance2023The Heart Part 5Best Rap Performance2023The Heart Part 5Best Rap Song2023Mr. Morale & the Big SteppersBest Rap Album2025Not Like UsRecord of the Year2025Not Like UsSong of the Year2025Not Like UsBest Rap Performance2025Not Like UsBest Rap Song2025Not Like UsBest Music Video
This year, Lamar is the most-nominated artist at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards. Here’s every category he has been nominated in:
RecipientCategoryLuthor (with SZA)Record of the YearLuthor (with SZA)Song of the YearLuthor (with SZA)Best Melodic Rap PerformanceGNXAlbum of the YearGNXBest Rap Album30 for 30 (with SZA)Best Pop Duo/Group PerformanceChains and Whips (with Clipse)Best Rap PerformanceTV Off Best Rap PerformanceTV OffBest Rap Song
Is this the year Lamar beats West and Jay-Z for the top spot on the podium? We will find out soon enough.
Early Beginnings: What Inspired Kendrick Lamar?
Kendrick Lamar | Credits: @kendricklamar/Instagram
Before dominating the hip hop scene, Kendrick Lamar was simply an elder brother living in poverty with his family. Born and raised in Compton, California, he is the first child of former gang hustler Kenneth “Kenny” Duckworth. His mother worked as a hairdresser.
He recalled to Spin, “My pops did whatever he could to get money. He was in the streets. You know the story. I remember always walking to the government building with mom. We got our food stamps fast because we lived across the street.” Despite their financial troubles, Lamar credited his parents for doing everything they could.
He was only eight years old when inspiration struck, and let’s just say it looked a whole lot like Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur. Lamar came across the two artists filming their music video for California Love, and everything changed for him.
The rapper told Rolling Stone, “I want to say they were in a white Bentley…These motorcycle cops trying to conduct traffic but one almost scraped the car, and Pac stood up on the passenger seat, like, ‘Yo, what the f*ck!’ Yelling at the police, just like on his motherfucking songs. He gave us what we wanted.“
Apart from Shakur and Dr. Dre, Lamar has his middle school English teacher, Mr. Inge, to thank for introducing him to poetry. He recalled, “You could put all your feelings down on a sheet of paper, and they’d make sense to you. I like that.“
In 2004 or 2005, Lamar collaborated on the mixtape, Hub City Threat, which helped him land a deal with local rap label, Top Dawg Entertainment, at 16 years old (via RS). It was only onwards and upwards from then on.
Kendrick Lamar’s First Big Hit and Rise to Fame
Credits: ASAPROCKYUPTOWN/YouTube
Credits: NFL/YouTube
Credits: Kendrick Lamar/YouTube
Credits: Kendrick Lamar/YouTube
After releasing a bunch of mixtapes, Lamar’s first studio album, Section.80, was finally out on July 2, 2011. It marked his first appearance on the Billboard 200 chart, and critics agreed it marked the beginning of Lamar’s fame and fortune. A month after its release, Snoop Dogg named Lamar the new king of the West Coast (via Complex).
Then on October 22, 2012, Lamar dropped his second studio album, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, in which he worked with Pharrell Williams, T-Minus, and more. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200.
While Good Kid, M.A.A.D City was loved by critics and listeners, Lamar had yet to have his first big hit. Finally, in 2012, he collaborated with ASAP Rocky, Drake, and 2 Chainz on F*ckin’ Problems, the single that got him into Billboard’s Top 10 for the first time.
On March 15, 2015, Lamar released his third studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. As seen above, this kick-started his victorious journey at the Grammy Awards.
For his fourth album, Damn (April 14, 2017), Lamar was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music the following year. He became the first musician, outside of classical and jazz, to receive the honor. His next two studio albums, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (May 13, 2022) and GNX (November 22, 2024), were also highly praised.
In 2019, Lamar received his first and only Oscar nomination for Best Original Song – All the Stars. He made his Super Bowl halftime debut in 2022 and returned to the scene in 2025, where he took his feud with Drake to the next level by performing Not Like Us, a track that was on everyone’s playlist around the globe.
In April 2025, Lamar set out for the Grand National Tour with SZA in support of their respective albums, GNX and Lana. Billboard named it the highest-grossing co-headlining tour of all time.
From humble beginnings to literally ruling the music industry, Lamar sure has come a long way.
Kendrick Lamar on the Highs and Lows of His Career
Kendrick Lamar with his wife and children | Credits: @blushedbywhit/Instagram
For Kendrick Lamar, his success has always been more about his victories in his personal life than any other glittering award or recognition. Which is why one of the best parts of his career is the ability to provide for his parents.
Talking to Interview Magazine, Lamar said, “I always thought money was something just to make me happy. But I’ve learned that I feel better being able to help my folks, ’cause we never had nothing. So just to see them excited about my career is more of a blessing than me actually having it for myself.“
Similarly, the biggest disappointment of his career is also personal. In a decade-old interview with Rick Rubin, Lamar admitted he felt disheartened that he could not be with his family as much as he would like.
He said,
You’re going to miss a lot of birthdays, you’re going to miss a lot of moments. Those are my earlier disappointments…You have certain people you care about and you love. Sometimes, you may get lost in the music so far, you may forget how much you mean to the people that you came up with, your family… You can hear it, even if it’s not as blunt or as vocal, you can hear the sort of disappointment.
Lamar has been married to his high school sweetheart, Whitney Alford, since 2015, and the couple has two children.
While you may think Lamar has achieved his end goal, the rapper admitted it’s not it. Not just yet. Talking to SZA for Harper’s Bazaar, he stated that his music is “just the start” and is not his “end goal“, but a “vessel” that gets him there.
If you cannot wait to see what Lamar does next, follow FandomWire for more updates!
The 68th Annual Grammy Awards’ main show airs live on CBS and streams on Paramount+ at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
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