Kendrick Lamar wins rap album at Grammys 2023

To no one’s surprise, Kendrick Lamar’s “Mr. Moral & the Big Steppers won Best Rap Album at the 2023 Grammys. It is his third nomination and third win in the category, following wins for To Pimp a Butterfly and DAMN. 2016 and 2018 respectively.

“Thank you to my family for giving me the courage to share my vulnerability,” Lamar said upon accepting the award at the Crypto.com Arena.

Other nominated albums in the category included DJ Khaled’s God Did, Future’s I Never Liked You, Jack Harlow’s Come Home the Kids Miss You and Pusha T’s It’s Almost Dry.

Lamar looked up during “Mr. Moral & the Big Steppers attempts to sort through a litany of personal and family trauma, ranging from sexual abuse to transgender identity to unhealthy coping mechanisms. He enlisted German spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle as his personal guru on the album, which taught Kendrick, among other things, about detaching from the “pain body.”

“I was very positively impressed with him,” Tolle told Complex of working with Lamar. “We got along very well. I found him quiet, quite presentable and more introverted than extroverted. We talked and while we were chatting I couldn’t detect any ego in him. He was very presentable so I had a good one feeling with him.”

The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, grossing 295,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.

The previous Sunday, Lamars won “The Heart Part 5” for Rap Song and Rap Performance.

Tyler, the Creator won the 2022 rap album Grammy for “Call Me If You Get Lost.”