Kendrick Lamar celebrated his rap beef victory in a ‘Canadian tuxedo’, Chappell Roan called out the industry and Nashville finally backed Beyoncé
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It’s the kind of stress dream that pop stars tell their therapists about: “My artistic rival won record and song of the year at the Grammys for a track attacking me, and everyone was dancing and singing along. Even Beyoncé.” And so it came to pass for Drake, seeing Kendrick Lamar win for Not Like Us, walking to the podium in double denim – a “Canadian tuxedo”, no less – while half the arena seemed to chant “tryna strike a chord and it’s probably a minor”, a line alleging child sexual abuse (which Drake has strenuously denied). Drake has long framed the Grammys as somewhere that doesn’t understand rap music and he had already distanced himself from the awards – and perhaps that turned Recording Academy voters against him all the more. But these were deserved wins for Lamar – the beef allowed him to turn his lens away from himself, and in so doing made a very 21st-century entertainment: gossipy, networked, and packed with reference. Meanwhile, having seen the entire industry united in celebration against him makes you wonder anew: where next for Drake?