Kendrick Lamar has backed Jay-Z for president as he beat the rapper to win the Grammy for best rap album.
The prize means Lamar, who will also go up against Jay-Z in the prestigious album of the year category, has collected five Grammys already at the 60th awards in New York.
Accepting his fifth award of the night for 2017’s DAMN., he paid tribute to rival Jay-Z, adding: “Jay for president.”
He also celebrated the genre for being “about expressing yourself and putting that paint on the canvas for the world to evolve”.
Dave Chappelle presented the honour after paying tribute to icons of the genre including A Tribe Called Quest.
Earlier Lamar also beat Jay-Z to the best rap/sung performance prize with LOYALTY which features singer Rihanna and came after earlier success in the non-televised part of the ceremony.
Lamar wore a white rose in a sign of solidarity with the anti-sexual harassment movement to accept the first televised award of the night which he said “really belongs to her” in reference to Rihanna.
He had opened the show with a politically-charged raucous medley of songs including XXX. and DNA. which included a contributions from U2 and comedian Chappelle.
Bruno Mars also collected three early awards while Jay-Z is yet to triumph despite leading the way for nominations, with eight.
British success came from Ed Sheeran whose album Divide won in the pop vocal album category while Shape Of You picked up the best pop solo performance for the 26-year-old singer-songwriter.
Mars’s victories included best R&B song for That’s What I Like and best R&B album with 24K Magic, while Lamar’s HUMBLE. beat Jay-Z to win best rap song.
The ceremony had been billed as a battle between Lamar and Jay-Z with both nominated in the bigger categories.
Lady Gaga also performed and told the broadcast “time’s up” during performances of Joanne and Million Reasons in a reference to the anti-sexual harassment initiative.
Her performance came after host James Corden introduced the 60th Grammys by saying it is the most diverse show in history.
Cardi B, Rita Ora, Sam Smith and dozens of other stars sported white roses at the event to support the anti-sexual harassment campaign.
The symbolic move was proposed earlier this week by music executives to support the movements that followed the revelations starting with movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s downfall.
Awards were also posthumously given to Leonard Cohen, for best rock performance, and Carrie Fisher, for best spoken word album with her reading of her memoir The Princess Diarist