Kendrick Lamar might not have won AOTY at the Grammys but he didn’t leave empty-handed. K. Dot had a phenomenal evening that saw him win three out of eight of the categories he was nominated in. As he won the Best Rap Album category, he thanked his family their support to create the album.
“First and foremost, I want to thank my family for giving me the courage, you know, and the vulnerability to share these stories and share my truth with this album,” he said. “I want to thank my fans for trusting me with these words. As artists, we all entertainers.. we say things to provoke thoughts and feelings and emotions,” he continued. “Making this record was one of my toughest albums to make,” he added. “I would like to thank the culture for allowing me to evolve in order to make a song like ‘Mother I Sober.’ That’s special to me. All we wanted was to be the biggest underground artist of all time and I finally found imperfection with this album.”
Alford Whitney, Kendrick Lamar’s fiancée, later shared an adorable video of their two kids reacting to the news. His daughter and son, who graced the cover of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers alongside Whitney, dressed up for the occasion as they witnessed their father make history. “He’s talking about us,” Lamar’s daughter said in the clip, “He’s talking about us! He’s talking about his family! Uzi and Enoch and mommy. Whitney congratulated Kendrick in the caption, writing, “Congrats on 3 more @kendricklamar we [white heart emoji] and appreciate you!”
Though Kendrick Lamar’s kept his family out of the spotlight, he opened up a lot more on his album. However, the album almost didn’t see the light of day. During an interview with W Magazine, he explained that he was hesitant to drop Mr. Morale after completing it.
“When I got to completion and I said, ‘I may or may not put this out; I’m not going to put this out; it’s way too much.’ I thought about my children,” he says, a grin spreading across his face. “I thought about when they turn 21, or they’re older in life, and when I got grandchildren, or if I’m long gone—this can be a prerequisite of how to cope. That’s the beauty of it for me.”
Check out the reaction from Kendrick’s children below.