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The 2025 Grammys were held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday, February 2, 2025, and saw Kendrick Lamar's Drake diss track, Not Like Us, winning five awards. The rapper walked away with a nod for Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, Best Music Video, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year.
Despite the big win, three of Lamar's awards were not televised and were handed out during the Premiere Ceremony ahead of Sunday night’s prime-time telecast.
According to KGET, the Grammys have nearly a hundred awards to hand out in addition to live performances and acceptance speeches, making it difficult to fit the program into a three-hour prime-time telecast.
Hence, the Recording Academy holds a separate three-hour Premiere Ceremony ahead of the main gala.
Rap Categories (Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Performance), Latin Music Categories, Jazz Categories, and even Producer of the Year are some of the categories not televised.
Singer and songwriter Justin Tranter hosted the Grammys Premiere Ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles
Sunday's ceremony marked Kendrick Lamar's 22nd win, making him the third rapper after Jay-Z and Kanye West to win more than 20 Grammys.
Not Like Us beat West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Carnival, Rapsody’s Asteroids, and Future and Metro Boomin's (Lamar guest appeared on the track) Like That to win the Best Rap Song.
His competition for Best Rap performance included Cardi B’s Enough, Doechii’s Nissan Altima, GloRilla’s Yeah Glo!, Eminem’s Houdini, Common and Pete Rock’s Where the Sun Shines Again, and Like That.
He edged out A$AP Rocky’s Tailor Swif, Charli XCX’s 360, and Eminem’s Houdini to win the Best Music Video award at the Grammys.
According to an article by The Hollywood Reporter, the Premiere Ceremony took place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles before the main broadcast. It streamed live at 12:30 p.m. PT on Recording Academy’s YouTube account.
Singer and songwriter Justin Tranter hosted the ceremony and featured live performances by Wayne Brady, Deborah Cox, Scott Hoying, Renée Fleming, Muni Long, Kelli O’Hara, and Kevin Puts, among others.
Per KGET, citing host Tranter, a total of 85 awards were handed out during the pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony.
According to an article by Music Row, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. told the outlet:
"The Premiere Ceremony will not only kick off our Grammy Sunday, it will provide an opportunity to show that in times of adversity, music has the power to be used for good, to help our community unite, and to show our community’s resilience."
Mason Jr. was referencing the recent Los Angeles wildfires.
Per the publication, the ceremony was produced by Branden Chapman, Ruby Marchand, Lindsay Saunders Carl, and Rex Supa, with Executive Producer Greg V. Fera and Cheche Alara as the Music Producer and Director.
Per a February 2013 article by the Westword, categories like Best Alternative Album, Best Engineered Album, non-classical, and Best Album Notes are not included in the Grammys prime-time gala.
Best Recording Package, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, and Best Rock Album, too, are handed out during the Premiere Ceremony.
The 2025 Grammys were held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. They can be streamed via CBS and Paramount+.
