Kendrick Lamar isn’t mad at Macklemore: ‘He went out there and hustled & grinded’

If you remember, I actually liked Kendrick Lamar last year when I covered his GQ interview. That interview was put on blast after it was published because GQ openly discussed Kendrick’s gang friends and made some stereotypes and assumptions about his “thug life,” but I came into the piece knowing very little about him, and I came out of thinking that Lamar is a very funny, self-aware and somewhat pleasantly weird dude. Anyway, Kendrick Lamar lost in every category at the Grammys, often losing to Macklemore. After the Grammys, Macklemore posted some texts he sent Kendrick, plus an Instagram message to his fans saying that Kendrick should have won Best Rap Album. Kendrick’s fans were basically calling for Macklemore’s head, so it’s cool that Kendrick released a statement to basically let everyone know that there are no hard feelings:

The biggest hip-hop storyline from the 2014 Grammy Awards was Macklemore beating out Kendrick Lamar for just about every major hip-hop award; on Grammy day last Sunday (Jan. 26), Macklemore walked away with four Grammys for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance and Best New Artist while Kendrick walked away with zero. Many people had strong opinions on the matter, from Twitter to artists like Fabolous and YG, and even Macklemore himself, who texted K. Dot that good kid, m.A.A.d city deserved Best Rap Album. XXL recently caught up with King Kendrick after his performance with Dom Kennedy last night in New York City, and asked for his thoughts on Macklemore’s victories.

“It’s well deserved; he did what he did, man,” Kendrick said. “He went out there and hustled and grinded. Everything happens for a reason; the universe comes back around, that’s how it go.”

While Kendrick may have grounds to feel snubbed, he’s hardly the first rapper to come up empty; hip-hop legends such as Snoop Dogg and Nas have been snubbed numerous times.

“I definitely feel like they should always have more of the culture up in there, for sure, because we definitely stand out just like any other genre,” Kendrick said when asked if he thought the Grammys undervalued hip-hop. “We part of the world. We part of the movement. So I think any awards, including the Grammys, should always push for more hip-hop because it’s music as a whole, it’s not just splitting different regions. Everything moves as far as sound and vibrations, and that’s how it goes. And we are a part of that.”

TDE’s CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, tweeted in December of 2013 that every TDE artist is dropping a project this year. Isaiah Rashad dropped his debut EP Cilvia at midnight on Monday evening, and ScHoolboy Q is releasing his debut album Oxymoron Feb. 25. Is King Kendrick next in line? “I wouldn’t even know,” he said to XXL. ”I got to get back into the studio and vibe out. But once I get in there, for sure, I’ll let y’all know.”

[From XXL Mag]

See? It’s all good. I hope Kendrick understands that the Grammys aren’t the end-all be-all of music appreciation anyway. Like most academies and guilds, the Grammys will always skew older and whiter. Maybe I’m a sap, but I honestly believe that there’s no beef between Kendrick and Macklemore, it’s just drama between their fans. They’re fine.

Photos courtesy of WENN.