The victory lap for Kendrick Lamar seems to be never ending, as the artist continues to ride the high from his high-profile feud with fellow rapper Drake from 2024. He has officially become the most awarded rapper in the Grammy’s history, beating Jay – Z’s record.
The rapper won the awards in the following categories: best rap album for “GNX,” best rap song for “TV Off,” melodic rap performance for “Luther” and rap performance for being featured in Clipse’s “Chains & Whips,” bringing his total to 26, whereas Jay – Z has been the recipient of 25 awards. With the Grammy’s still ongoing, Lamar can still hope to increase the award count with yet to be announced categories like song of the year, album of the year and record of the year.
A night to remember
Kendrick Lamar went into the Grammys – held today February 2, 2026 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles – with 22 wins and 66 nominations. He was been nominated in 9 categories: Best rap song, best rap album, best rap performance (twice), best melodic rap performance, best pop duo/group performance, album of the year, record of the year and song of the year. He has already won 4 out of the 9 categories and the night is still young.
Accepting the award for best rap album, he said, “It is hip-hop as usual, man. I’m not good at talking about myself, but I express it through the music. It’s an honor to be here. … Hip-hop is going to always be right here. We are going to be in these suits looking good, having our folks with us. We are going to be having the culture with us. So I appreciate y’all. God is to glory. Love y’all.”
Kendrick Lamar: Grammy darling
Lamar’s rise in the music industry was stratospheric with the release of his album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City in 2012 for which he was nominated for Best New Artist and Album Of The Year the following year. His loss in album of the year was one of the most egregious moments of the year with rapper Macklemore (who won the category) even texting him, “You got robbed.”
Since then however, Lamar has proved himself time and time again to be a Grammy darling. He won his first awards in 2014 for best rap performance and best rap song for “I” in 2014 and he has been on a roll ever since. Last year during the 67th Grammys, the rapper won 5 awards for one song alone – the hit diss track “Not Like Us” which concluded the infamous, year-long Drake-Kendrick feud with Lamar emerging as the clear winner.
With 26 wins tonight, Lamar has created Grammy history cementing his place not just as one of the most critically acclaimed rappers of his generation, but as one of the most decorated artists the awards have ever seen. He has surpassed the legends of his time and is still competing with new-comers in the industry – proving that he stands apart as a giant in the category.