Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ Shocks The World With A Record Of The Year Grammy Win

Kendrick Lamar is the winner of the 2025 Grammy Award for Record Of The Year. His song, “Not Like Us,” won over a field that included The Beatles’ “Now And Then”; Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em”; Billie Eilish’s “Birds Of A Feather”; Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!”; Charli XCX’s “360”; Kendrick Lamar’s “; Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso”; and Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone.

The win makes “Not Like Us” just the second rap song to win Record Of The Year, following the 2019 win for “This Is America” by Childish Gambino. It’s certainly the first over diss song to achieve the distinction/ During his acceptance speech, Kendrick shouted out just about every LA neighborhood from his own Compton to Pacoima — while wearing a “Canadian tuxedo.” Mustard, who accompanied him to the stage, simply said, “West side!” Someone check on Drake — he can’t possibly be doing well right now.

A quick refresher on the difference between Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year: Record Of The Year “goes to the artist(s), producer(s), and engineer(s) involved in crafting the specific recording (hence ‘record’) of a song.” Meanwhile, Song Of The Year “goes to the songwriter(s) (hence ‘song’) of new material (not including sampled or interpolated material) of a song.” So, the person that put the pen to the paper or composed the melodies would get a trophy for Song Of The Year, while the producer (the person who supervises the overall recording) or the engineer (the person who operates the recording/mixing equipment) is eligible for Record, along with the singer/rapper/musician. They are two of the collective Big Four awards, which also include Album Of The Year and Best New Artist, the most prestigious awards of the ceremony.

Check out Uproxx’s full list of 2025 Grammy Award winners here.