The time is almost here. In less than a week, the Recording Academy will honor and recognize the best the music industry has to offer. Even with all the artists, songs, and albums that are nominated for awards, all eyes will be on one track in particular.
“Not Like Us” has been the most discussed and popular track of the last year and it also so happens to be nominated in two of the “Big Four” Grammy categories: Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
Ironically, it’s also the second rap diss song to be nominated for a Grammy (Drake’s 2015 Meek Mill diss, “Back to Back” was the first). So does Lamar actually have a chance to win it?
Broken records
I don’t know, it’s the most-streamed diss track on Spotify, it’s the first rap song to top the Billboard Hot 100 after a five-day tracking week, it’s the longest-running track to hold the top spot on the rap chart, and it’s the first diss track to be streamed more than a billion times. Those are just data points, and things that the recording academy loves to consider when voting on songs.
Social impact
There is also an anecdotal angle to this. Lamar’s explosive diss track is a cultural phenomenon and at this point, a legendary song. Few tracks have captured the attention of society like “Not Like Us.” The track was championed by fellow artists, sports franchises, political campaigns, and school bands as a rallying cry.
Impact on Drake
Furthermore, due to Drake’s actions, the diss track has done unforeseen damage to an artist’s career in a way we’ve never seen before. Nas’ “Ether” was the killing blow in his beef with Jay-Z, but it was not a hit track that caused Hov to take legal action.
The fact that it caused one of the most popular rappers in the history of the genre to fold into a ball and go tell his lawyers is something that no other rapper in history (other than Kendrick) can say they did.
Lamar winning a Grammy for “Not Like Us” would not only cap off his explosive year, it would show that he can beat Drake in his own game, something that likely hurts the Toronto rapper’s ego more than anything else K. Dot has done.