He lost out to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in a number of key categories, but Kendrick Lamar still took the Grammys stage by storm on Sunday evening.
Performing with Imagine Dragons, the rapper performed a mashup of the band’s hit "Radioactive" with "M.A.A.D City" from his album, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City.
Watch the show-stopping live collaboration below:
Lamar’s record was nominated for the Album of the Year and Best Rap Album, and the up-and-comer was up for five more awards at the annual event.
Should he have been among the 2014 Grammy Awards winners? Maybe believe so. But any perceived snub should only fuel the talented youngster.
Lamar’s debut studio album, which ranked second on the Billboard 200, has already earned him extensive critical acclaim as well as wide popularity.
GQ named him Rapper of the Year for 2013.
For the performance, the band and rapper dressed in all white and rocked out on the smoke-filled stage, strobe lights blazing and sound pulsating.
The sound cut out multiple times during Lamar’s explicit rhymes, while Jay Z, Beyonce, Lorde, Katy Perry, Robin Thicke and Steven Tyler danced in approval.
Soon after the energetic performance generated major buzz, Imagine Dragons debuted the remix to "Radioactive," featuring Kendrick Lamar, on iTunes.
Among Kendrick Lamar‘s pre-game advice to his Imagine Dragons collaborators: "Don’t go against your own shit … I don’t want anybody to do anything fake."
Mission accomplished.