Robert Glasper has had a helluva summer. In addition to national and international tours with his jazz quartet, the keyboardist, producer and composer hosted a party like no other in California's Wine Country. But this was no simple wine and cheese affair where music was relegated to the background.

Glasper, a four-time GRAMMY winner, was the curator and artist-in-residence of the first-ever Blue Note Jazz Festival in the Napa Valley. The three-day festival hosted a rotating — and often collaborative — cast of performers including Snoop Dogg, Black Star, Chaka Khan, Kamasi Washington and Dave Chappelle at the intimate Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena. And amidst the hustle of the festival, Glasper's mind was racing.

"I had a lot of people mix-matching on stage, jamming together, that normally you probably wouldn't see," he tells GRAMMY.com, backstage at Outside Lands in San Francisco, where the festival's lineup of punk acts has started competing for auditory attention. "There were some things I saw where I'm like: Oh, that actually could be on a record."

While the multi-hyphenate schemes about new efforts, he is also touring Black Radio III — an expectedly dope meld of jazz, R&B and hip-hop featuring the likes of Eryka Badu and Yassin Bey, released 10 years after the initial Black Radio. The album will be re-released as a deluxe version in the fall, featuring songs, interludes and voicemail drops that couldn't fit on the original album. Ever the mad curator, Glasper's creative cup is overflowing.

With his massive summer (mostly) wrapped, it's back to business as usual — looking ahead toward his next projects. GRAMMY.com caught up with Robert Glasper to discuss curating versus playing a festival, lip reading, and what the luminary envisions for the future of jazz and hip-hop.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

You have been doing the most recently, and especially in the Bay, with Outside Lands and the Blue Note Festival. Do you have a special relationship with the Bay Area?

I've been coming to the Bay for many, many years, since I very first started with my piano trio. I used to come play at Yoshi's all the time — I'm talking 2005 — with my band.

I've been coming to Bay doing that, and then spreading out, doing other clubs and bigger venues, so I definitely have a good relationship with the Bay and the people in the Bay. The first Blue Note Napa [festival] was great. And seeing all my old friends from the Bay coming there, it was amazing.

I can only imagine. You must be dog tired.

I am super tired, but I'm full of energy at the same time. I'm stoked still. 

Is there a mindset change that has to happen between being the artist of residence and a curator, to being a performer on this stage?

Yeah, there is a certain mindset. When you're just an artist in residence, your only job, really, is to do shows. Other than your shows, you can kind of do what you want to do — see this, see that, see the other people perform.

When you're what I am, which was also a curator of it and a host as well, I had to be certain places all the time and do all these different things, so I didn't have time to really chill per se. There's so many people that were there that I didn't even get to see at all — not even see them physically. 

I had to introduce people, certain acts, and just be around, do all these other things. But it was cool being on that side of it at the same time.

At a show like Outside Lands, where you're performing with just  a quartet, what can folks expect from your performance?

I hope they expect ... well, I don't even know, because I like to make my set according to the audience's vibes. I generally know the first two songs. And then after that, I gauge what I'm going to do based on the crowd. 

Then, everybody's not getting the same show, and I don't get bored either. I go with the flow. I go with what the vibe is, and depending on who went before me, what they did. Certain things I just pay attention to.

Back to your Blue Note Fest: Not to drive this metaphor totally into the ground, but you invited a lot of people to your Dinner Party. What were some of your favorite moments?

Obviously one of my favorite moments was having Snoop there. That means so much because he's the OG, and to have him there was so dope. He's so open and so cool. 

One of my best friends, Terrace Martin, we have Dinner Party together. I've known Terrence since I was 15 and Terrace has known Snoop since he was 14, 15. He's been working with Snoop for that long, producing and being his music director and all those kinds of things, so it was just a cool experience being on stage with those guys. That was one of my favorite moments.

Having Madlib there was super dope. Everybody else was pretty much family. I've been to all their shows, we've collaborated before, and that's what made that festival so cool. I got to curate my own musical family reunion.

Read more: Robert Glasper & Terrace Martin On Removing Their Egos And Creating Their GRAMMY-Nominated Collaboration 'Dinner Party: Dessert'

What's next for Dinner Party? Did you find much inspiration at Blue Note Jazz Fest?

We're definitely going to come out with a new album, probably later this year or maybe early next year.

The Blue Note Napa Festival really inspired me musically, inspired my thought process, [inspired] everyone. I'm getting so many texts saying, "Yo, I can't stop thinking about it. That festival was so inspiring." It was not hectic. It wasn't huge. We didn't want it to be too big. We wanted to feel like my residency that I do at the Blue Note every October. I'm there for six, seven weeks straight, every night except Monday nights.

And that's where the idea came from, to make the residency a festival. For a festival, it was intimate. And then when it's intimate like that, it's less hectic, more laid back. That's why so many people came just to hang out that weren't even performing. That's why you saw Dwyane Wade and Terry Crews and Nas and all these other people just coming just to be a part of the hang.

How did that inspire you creatively? Are you listening to anything new?

I'm still in the high of it. What was cool about the festival is I treated it like my residency, so I had a lot of people mix-matching on stage, jamming together, that normally you probably wouldn't see. 

A lot of times when you do a festival, it's like that band plays, then that band plays and everybody has their own thing. But I like to cross pollinate while we're all there together. There were some things I saw where I'm like, oh, that actually could be on a record. That should be on ... Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaking of records, you're about to release a deluxe edition of Black Radio III. Can you tell me about what's special about that deluxe release?

For Black Radio III, I recorded so many songs. During the pandemic, I had nothing else to do. And, luckily, a lot of artists didn't have anything to do either, so it was kind of a good time and a bad time. And some artists were depressed and weren't really feeling like making anything. The inspiration was sucked out of a lot of people. But at the same time, a lot of people were looking for something to do so I ended up having too many songs.  

I had to curate [Black Radio III] in a way that made sense for a whole album, and there were a lot of songs that were cool and dope but didn't necessarily match.

So now I have this other record coming out, which is basically the extra songs. I have a lot of interludes…and even voicemails and all kinds of stuff that were part of Black Radio III.  I have a duet with Estelle on there where I'm singing. I got a bunch of cool stuff; I don't want to give it all away.

I thought "All Masks" was an interesting first song to release from the deluxe Black Radio III. It's really stripped down and kind of spooky to my ear.

Yeah, it was spooky. I was in that vibe when I wrote that song. I was listening to a lot of trap and Drake s—t in that particular time period. And I wanted to speak on the fact that all masks, that masks are scary. Everybody's walking around looking scary.

Now we're getting used to it, but … I just want to address that because the simple gesture of just a smile from someone [or how] somebody getting a joke depends a lot of times on your smile. If you're flirting with somebody, you’ve got to do it only with your eyes.

We're missing those cheese moments. Regular things that were so normal are gone because of that. And you realize how much you read lips.

I  can only imagine how difficult that is in the studio and on stage, especially at the level that you're communicating with all these different jazz and hip-hop artists...

When it got to the stage, I'm like, look, "Let's just take a test." I can't be on stage with a mask. It's terrible. And if you're singing something, you can't [wear one]. It's so weird. 

You've been this guiding light in jazz and hip hop and the intersection thereof for so many years. Where do you see those two genres going in the near future? And where would you like to see it go?

I just helped to open the lid a bit more on both of them, on all of them:  R&B, hip-hop and jazz. I feel like I just helped broaden the scope so they're not so boxed into what they are supposed to be. 

But when you open it up, more people are prone to walk through that door. So I think it was good for everyone, creatively too. Now in your mind, you're like, oh it's hip hop, but I can do that. It's jazz, but I can do this.

Is there anyone that you've been particularly proud to collaborate with?

Oh my, so many people. That's a whole 'nother interview.

On the most recent album, everyone. Everybody. But you know what? I've known Q-Tip for years; I've written songs with him. I played on his albums, and wrote songs on his albums and stuff. And that's my guy, went on tour with him and everything. But we never did a song for me.

So this was my first time having Q-Tip on my album. He did a voicemail drop for me once on my album as an interlude, but this is the first time we did the song together, so I would say that's one of the greatest moments.

You've done everything. What is on your bucket list?

There are a few artists that I would love to produce a whole album for, or I want to just collaborate with  them in some way. A lot of our legends are leaving us and I want to connect them with as many of the people that I revere as possible before they're gone or before I'm gone.

Who would be your top two?

Top two? Why are you doing this to me? [Laughs] Okay, just off the top of my head today, it might change tomorrow, Thom Yorke and Busta Rhymes. Maybe they're on the same track. I don't know.

Lastly, you did an episode of "Herbal Tea & White Sofas" for us, our series about what's on your backstage rider. What were some of the things that you provided for your artists backstage at Blue Note Jazz Napa?

Some of the things we did was, we made everybody a personal cannabis container with their name on it.

I also specifically asked for a basketball court, so we built a basketball court backstage so people could just shoot around. 

Snoop was back there shooting around. Yeah, cats were just shooting around, because that's something I knew a lot of the people that were coming to the festival would want to do. And people had brought kids too, so we had a big goal, then we had a little goal.

Did you play at all?

Hell yeah, I hooped a little bit. I didn't want to get too sweaty, exactly. Then I'll be forced to take off my shirt, and then you know what that does.

What does it do?

It becomes a thing. I'm a big deal with my shirt off these days. I have a IG thing, a GIF,  of me dancing with my shirt off. I was in Cuba and I put a post of me dancing, and so my IG person, Deshawn, she made a GIF of me, so everybody at the festival had that. And then it just goes out of control — everybody has it now.

Women And Gender-Expansive Jazz Musicians Face Constant Indignities. This Mentorship Organization Is Tackling The Problem From All Angles.

Hundreds of music professionals gathered Jan. 27 for the Los Angeles Chapter of the Recording Academy’s annual nominee celebration, held at NeueHouse Hollywood. Hailed by Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. as the "unofficial kickoff to GRAMMY Week," the event featured performances by three of this year’s nominees from the chapter: Gaby Moreno, Robert Glasper, and Jordin Sparks. 

Chapter Board Vice President Lynne Earls said that the unofficial theme for both the board and the chapter this year is "belonging," and those vibes certainly trickled down to the nominee celebration. People from every part of the recording industry came together to enjoy brunch, have some drinks, and mix and mingle. 

Groups of attendees called out friendly greetings to each other, catching up over mimosas and waffles, and attendees exchanged hugs while clad in everything from cocktail dresses to platform combat boots. Not unlike at the actual GRAMMY Awards, fashion was truly on parade at the nominee celebration. Attendees rocked fully bedazzled suits, bespoke leather jackets, and plush safari print hoodies; at least one crystal-covered clutch resembling an old school cassette was spotted.

While many attendees at the event undoubtedly hope to take home a golden gramophone on Feb. 4, Mason took pains to remind the room that being nominated for the award is just as life-changing. "Being a GRAMMY nominee… that goes with you for your entire life and your entire career. On your bio, it's always going to say ‘GRAMMY nominee,’ and hopefully it's going to say ‘GRAMMY winner.’"

In his remarks, Recording Academy President Panos Panay agreed with Mason but made a special effort to remind attendees that being a member of the GRAMMY family is more than just attending an awards show once a year. 

"We're known for the GRAMMYs, which are the big graduation ceremony … but what's important to know is that the Academy works 365 days a year," he said. "We're here to advocate for the creative class." He encouraged non-member attendees to join the Academy, saying "We really would love to have you become a member of this incredible group of professionals." 

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Qiana Conley Akinro, the Senior Executive Director of the Recording Academy Los Angeles Chapter, also encouraged attendees to stop into the D.R.E.A.M. Lounge on the second floor of NeueHouse, which had been set up in partnership with Pacific Bridge Arts, Paper Magazine, and Netflix and featured a gifting suite full of Hallmark Mahogany items and a bloom bar by Postal Petals. Several panels were held in the space, which was given the D.R.E.A.M. acronym from the phrase "Diversity Reimagined Engaging All Musicians." Earls talked about her work with Women In The Mix and Academy Proud, while Academy Governor Kev Nish hosted a panel talking about the Gold Music Alliance, which aims to boost the impact of Pan-Asian people within both the GRAMMY organization and the recording industry.

After the panels, various nominees stopped by the D.R.E.A.M. video studio to give testimonials about how they found out they’d been honored. Best Jazz Arrangement, Instrument and Vocals nominee Maria Mendes relayed the importance of being the first Portuguese person nominated for a GRAMMY in the category, as well as her pride in repping her country’s music. Mendes even shouted out the jewelry and fashion designers behind her upcoming GRAMMY ceremony look, both of which are from Mendes’ home country. 

Colombian singer and Best Latin Pop Album nominee AleMor said she’s proud to represent her home country and independent artists. "I'm honored that I get to be here, and I am grateful that I'm alive at the same time as all of the people that are alive now," she told onlookers. "I think music is like invisible medicine, you know, like you listen to a song and it might make you feel good and you have no idea why. We are little magicians in the world, We get to change people's moods, and we get to change the way people see life."

2024 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Full Nominees List

The Los Angeles Chapter Nominee Celebration was made possible by generous support from Premier Sponsor Netflix, Co-Presenting Sponsors Pacific Bridges Arts, Paper Magazine, Official Sponsors SESAC Latin and NeueHouse Hollywood, and Gifting Sponsors Hallmark Mahogany, HYPNO, Fox Dog Productions, the Canadian Consulate, and VYDIA.

What, exactly, is "alternative jazz"? After that new category was announced ahead of the 2024 GRAMMYs nominations, inquiring minds wanted to know. The "alternative" descriptor is usually tied to rock, pop or dance — not typically jazz, which gets qualifiers like "out" or "avant-garde."

However, the introduction of the Best Alternative Jazz Album category does shoehorn anything into the lexicon. Rather, it commensurately clarifies and expands the boundaries of this global artform.

According to the Recording Academy, alternative jazz "may be defined as a genre-blending, envelope-pushing hybrid that mixes jazz (improvisation, interaction, harmony, rhythm, arrangements, composition, and style) with other genres… it may also include the contemporary production techniques/instrumentation associated with other genres."

And the 2024 GRAMMY nominees for Best Alternative Jazz Album live up to this dictum: Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily's Love in Exile; Louis Cole's Quality Over Opinion; Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter and SuperBlue's SuperBlue: The Iridescent Spree; Cory Henry's Live at the Piano; and Meshell Ndegeocello's The Omnichord Real Book.

Sure, these were the standard bearers of alternative jazz over the past year and change — as far as Recording Academy Membership is concerned. But these are only five albums; they amount to a cross section. With that in mind, read on for 10 additional albums from 2023 that fall under the umbrella of alternative jazz.

Allison Miller - Rivers in Our Veins

The supple and innovative drummer and composer Allison Miller often works in highly cerebral, conceptual spaces. After all, her last suite, Rivers in Our Veins, involves a jazz band, three dancers and video projections.

Therein, Miller chose one of the most universal themes out there: how rivers shape our lives and communities, and how we must act as their stewards. Featuring violinist Jenny Scheinman, trumpeter Jason Palmer, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, keyboardist and accordionist Carmen Staff, and upright bassist Todd Sickafoose — Rivers in Our Veins homes in on the James, Delaware, Potomac, Hudson, and Susquehanna.

And just as these eastern U.S. waterways serve all walks of life, Rivers in Our Veins defies category. And it also blurs two crucial aspects of Miller's life and career.

"I get to marry my environmentalism and my activism with music," she told District Fray. "And it's still growing!

M.E.B. - That You Not Dare To Forget

The Prince of Darkness may have slipped away 32 years ago, but he's felt eerily omnipresent in the evolution of this music ever since.

In M.E.B. or "Miles Electric Band," an ensemble of Davis alumni and disciples underscore his unyielding spirit with That You Not Dare to Forget. The lineup is staggering: bassists Ron Carter, Marcus Miller, and Stanley Clarke; saxophonist Donald Harrison, guitarist John Scofield, a host of others.

How does That You Not Dare To Forget satisfy the definition of alternative jazz? Because like Davis' abstracted masterpieces, like Bitches Brew, On the Corner and the like, the music is amoebic, resistant to pigeonholing.

Indeed, tunes like "Hail to the Real Chief" and "Bitches are Back" function as scratchy funk or psychedelic soul as much as they do the J-word, which Davis hated vociferously.

And above all, they're idiosyncratic to the bone — just as the big guy was, every second of his life and career.

Art Ensemble of Chicago - Sixth Decade - from Paris to Paris

The nuances and multiplicities of the Art Ensemble of Chicago cannot be summed up in a blurb: that's where books like Message to Our Folks and A Power Stronger Than Itself — about the AACM — come in.

But if you want an entryway into this bastion of creative improvisational music — that, unlike The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Associated Ensembles boxed set, isn't 18-plus hours long — Sixth Decade - from Paris to Paris will do in a pinch.

Recorded just a month before the pandemic struck, The Sixth Decade is a captivating looking-glass into this collective as it stands, with fearless co-founder Roscoe Mitchell flanked by younger leading lights, like Nicole Mitchell and Moor Mother.

Potent and urgent, engaging the heart as much as the cerebrum, this music sees the Art Ensemble still charting their course into the outer reaches. Here's to their next six decades.

Theo Croker - By The Way

By The Way may not be an album proper, but it's still an exemplar of alternative jazz.

The five-track EP finds outstanding trumpeter, vocalist, producer, and composer Croker revisiting tunes from across his discography, with UK singer/songwriter Ego Ella May weaving the proceedings with her supple, enveloping vocals.

Compositions like "Slowly" and "If I Could I Would" seem to hang just outside the reaches of jazz; it pulls on strings of neo soul and silky, progressive R&B.

Even the music video for "Slowly" is quietly innovative: in AI's breakthrough year, machine learning made beautifully, cosmically odd visuals for that percolating highlight.

Michael Blake - Dance of the Mystic Bliss

Even a cursory examination of Dance of the Mystic Bliss reveals it to be Pandora's box.

First off: revered tenor and soprano saxophonist Michael Blake's CV runs deep, from his lasting impression in New York's downtown scene to his legacy in John Lurie's Lounge Lizards.

And his new album is steeped in the long and storied history of jazz and strings, as well as Brazilian music and the sting of grief — Blake's mother's 2018 passing looms heavy in tunes like "Merle the Pearl." 

"Sure, for me, it's all about my mom, and there will be some things that were triggered. But when you're listening to it, you're going to have a completely different experience," Blake told LondonJazz in 2023.

"That's what I love about instrumental music," he continued. "That's what's so great about how jazz can transcend to this unbelievable spiritual level." Indeed, Dance of the Mystic Bliss can be communed with, with or without context, going in familiar or cold.

And that tends to be the instrumental music that truly lasts — the kind that gives you a cornucopia of references and sensations, either way.

Dinner Party - Enigmatic Society

Dinner Party's self-titled debut EP, from 2020 — and its attendant remix that year, Dinner Party: Dessert — introduced a mightily enticing supergroup to the world: Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, and 9th Wonder.

While the magnitude of talent there is unquestionable, the quartet were still finding their footing; when mixing potent Black American genres in a stew, sometimes the strong flavors can cancel each other out.

Enigmatic Society, their debut album, is a relaxed and concise triumph; each man has figured out how he can act as a quadrant for the whole.

And just as guests like Herbie Hancock and Snoop Dogg elevated Dinner Party: Dessert, colleagues like Phoelix and Ant Clemons ride this wave without disturbing its flow.

Wadada Leo Smith & Orange Wave Electric - Fire Illuminations

The octogenarian tumpeter, multi-instrumentalist and composer Wadada Leo Smith is a standard-bearer of the subset of jazz we call "creative music." And by the weighty, teeming sound of Fire Illuminations, it's clear he's not through surprising us.

Therein, Smith debuts his nine-piece Orange Wave Electric ensemble, which features three guitarists (Nels Cline, Brandon Ross, Lamar Smith) and two electric bassists (Bill Laswell and Melvin Gibbs).

In characteristically sagelike fashion, Smith described Fire Illuminations as "a ceremonial space where one's hearts and conscious can embrace for a brief period of unconditioned love where the artist and their music with the active observer becomes united."

And if you zoom in from that beatific view, you get a majestic slab of psychedelic hard rock — with dancing rhythms, guitar fireworks and Smith zigzagging across the canvas like Miles. 

Henry Threadgill - The Other One

Saxophonist, flutist and composer Henry Threadgill composed The Other One for the late, great Milfred Graves, the percussionist with a 360 degree vantage of the pulse of his instrument and how it related to heart, breath and hands.

If that sounds like a mouthful, this is a cerebral, sprawling and multifarious space: The Other One itself consists of one three-movement piece (titled Of Valence) and is part of a larger multimedia work.

To risk oversimplification, though, The Other One is a terrific example of where "jazz" and "classical" melt as helpful descriptors, and flow into each other like molten gold.

If you're skeptical of the limits and constraints of these hegemonic worlds, let Threadgill and his creative-music cohorts throughout history bulldoze them before your ears.

Linda May Han Oh - The Glass Hours

Jazz has an ocean of history with spoken word, but this fusion must be executed judiciously: again, these bold flavors can overwhelm each other. Except when they're in the hands of an artist as keen as Linda May Han Oh.

"I didn't want it to be an album with a lot of spoken word," the Malaysian Australian bassist and composer told LondonJazz, explaining that "Antiquity" is the only track on The Glass Hours to feature a recitation from the great vocalist Sara Serpa. "I just felt it was necessary for that particular piece, to explain a bit of the narrative more."

Elsewhere, Serpa's crystalline, wordless vocals are but one color swirling with the rest: tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Fabian Almazan, and drummer and electronicist Obed Calvaire.

Themed after "the fragility of time and life; exploring paradoxes seeded within our individual and societal values," The Glass Hours is Oh's most satisfying and well-rounded offering to date, ensconced in an iridescent atmosphere.

Charles Lloyd - Trios: Sacred Thread

You can't get too deep into jazz without bumping into the art of the trio — and the primacy of it. 

At 85, saxophonist and composer Charles Lloyd is currently smoking every younger iteration of himself on the horn; his exploratory fires are undimmed. So, for his latest project, he opted not just to just release a trio album, but a trio of trios.

Trios: Chapel features guitarist Bill Frisell and bassist Thomas Morgan; Trios: Ocean is augmented by guitarist Anthony Wilson and pianist Gerald Clayton; the final, Trios: Sacred Thread, contains guitarists Julian Lage and percussionist Zakir Hussain.

These are wildly different contexts for Lloyd, but they all meet at a meditative nexus. Drink it in as the curtains close on 2023, as you consider where all these virtuosic, forward-thinking musicians will venture to next — "alternative" or not.

Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily On New Album 'Love In Exile,' Improvisation Versus Co-Construction And The Primacy Of The Pulse

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

10 Essential Facts To Know About GRAMMY-Winning Rapper J. Cole

Like every edition of Music’s Biggest Night, the 2023 GRAMMYs featured a wealth of funny, touching and inspiring onstage speeches — both at the Premiere Ceremony and the main telecast.

But artists tend to express themselves differently, more intimately, backstage — and this certainly applied to GRAMMY winners and nominees at this year’s ceremony.

In the litany of videos below, see and hear stirring, extemporaneous statements from artists all over the 2023 GRAMMYs winners and nominees list, from Album Of The Year winner Harry Styles to Americana star-turned-rocker Brandi Carlile to Best Global Music Performance nominee Anoushka Shankar and beyond.

Throughout, you’ll get a better sense of the good jitters backstage at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Feb. 5, and hear exactly what the golden gramophone means to this crop of musical visionaries.

The list of videos begins below.

Harry Styles

Samara Joy

Brandi Carlile

Steve Lacy

Muni Long

Bonnie Raitt

Kim Petras

Ashley McBryde

Carly Pearce

Anoushka Shankar

Masa Takumi

Kabaka Pyramid

Robert Glasper

Assassin's Creed

Encanto

White Sun

2023 GRAMMY Nominations: See The Complete Winners & Nominees List