Macklemore & Ryan Lewis surprisingly triumphed at the Grammy Awards on Sunday evening, taking home four awards.
The duo picked up the best new artist and rap album gongs for their record, The Heist, as well as best rap song and best rap performance for their single, “Thrift Shop.”
Macklemore made sure to thank fans, his fiancee and his team during his acceptance speech before continuing, “Wow, we’re here on the stage right now. I want to say we made this album without a record label, we made it independently and we appreciate all the support.”
This success comes after the pair was almost excluded from the rap categories by the Grammy rap committee. It’s believed that they originally rejected Macklemore & Lewis; however, this was then overruled by the general Grammy committee.
The rap judges believed that Macklemore & Lewis should have been included in the pop awards because of their Top 40 radio success.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis beat James Blake, Kendrick Lamar, Kacey Musgraves, and Ed Sheeran to collect the Best New Artist gong. While for the Best Rap Performance accolade, Eminem’s “Bezerk”, Drake’s “Started from the Bottom,” Jay-Z’s “Tom Ford” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Swimming Pools (Drank),” were regarded as inferior to the duo’s “Thrift Shop.”
“Thrift Shop” also defeated ASAP Rocky’s “F*****’ Problems,” Jay-Z’s “Holy Grail,” Kanye West’s “New Slaves,” and Drake’s “Started from the Bottom,” to pick up Best Rap Song.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis biggest success at Sunday evening’s 56th Grammy Awards came when they were awarded the Best Rap Album award for their record, The Heist. Judges chose them as the recipients of this award despite competition from Drake’s Nothing Was the Same, Jay-Z’s Magna Carta… Holy Grail , Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and Kanye West’s Yeezus.
You can check out a full run-down of 2014 Grammy Award winners below:
– Album of the year: Random Access Memories , Daft Punk.
– Record of the year: “Get Lucky,” Daft Punk with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.
– Song of the year : “Royals,” Lorde.
– New artist: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
– Pop solo performance: “Royals”, Lorde.
– Pop vocal album: Unorthodox Jukebox, Bruno Mars
– Pop/duo group performance: “Get Lucky,” Daft Punk with Pharrell and Nile Rodgers.
– Rap/sung collaboration: “Holy Grail,” Jay Z with Justin Timberlake.
– Rock song : “Cut Me Some Slack,” Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear.
– Country album: Same Trailer Different Park , Kacey Musgraves.
– Traditional pop vocal album : To Be Loved, Michael Buble.
– Rap performance: “Thrift Shop”, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz.
– Rap song: “Thrift Shop,” Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz.
– Rap album: The Heist , Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
– R&B performance: “Something, Snarky Puppy” with Lalah Hathaway.
– Traditional R&B performance: “Please Come Home,” Gary Clark Jr.
– R&B song : “Pusher Love Girl,” James Fauntleroy, Jerome Harmon, Timothy Mosley and Justin Timberlake.
– R&B album : Girl on Fire, Alicia Keys.
– Urban contemporary album : Unapologetic , Rihanna.
– Rock performance : “Radioactive,” Imagine Dragons.
– Rock album: “Celebration Day,” Led Zeppelin.
– Hard rock/metal performance : “God is Dead,” Black Sabbath.
– Alternative music album: Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend.
– Dance recording: “Clarity,” Zedd featuring Foxes.
– Dance/electronica album: Random Access Memories , Daft Punk.
– Producer of the year, non-classical: Pharrell Williams.
– Latin pop album: “Vida,” Draco Rosa
– Latin rock, urban or alternative album: Treinta Dias, La Santa Cecilia.
– Latin jazz album : Song for Maura , Paquito D’Rivera and Trio Corrente.
– Tropical Latin album: Pacific Mambo Orchestra, Pacific Mambo Orchestra.
– Country solo performance: “Wagon Wheel,” Darius Rucker.
– Country duo/group performance: “From This Valley,” The Civil Wars.
– Country song: “Merry Go `Round,” Kacey Musgraves, Shane McAnally and Josh Osbourne.
– Gospel song: “If He Did It Before… Same God (Live),” Tye Tribbett
– Gospel album: Greater Than (Live) , Tye Tribbettlatin
– Blues album : Get Up!, Ben Harper with Charlie Musselwhite.
– Folk album: My Favorite Picture of You , Guy Clark.
– Americana album: Old Yellow Moon, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell.
– Bluegrass album: The Streets of Baltimore , Del McCoury Band.
– Reggae album: Ziggy Marley in Concert , Ziggy Marley.
– World music album : Live: Singing for Peace Around the World, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Savor Flamenco, Gypsy Kings (tie).
– Children’s album : Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well , Jennifer Gasoi.
– Spoken word album : America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t, Stephen Colbert.
– Comedy album : Calm Down Gurrl, Kathy Griffin.
– New age album: Love’s River, Laura Sullivan.
– Jazz vocal album: Liquid Spirit, Gregory Porter.
– Jazz instrumental album: Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue , Terri Lyne Carrington.
– Large jazz ensemble album: Night in Calisia, Randy Brecker, Wlodek Pawlik Trio and Kalisz Philharmonic.
– Pop instrumental album: Steppin’ Out , Herb Alpert.
– Compilation soundtrack album: Sound City: Real to Ree l, Dave Grohl and various artists, Butch Vig.
– Score soundtrack album : Skyfall, Thomas Newman, composer.
– Song written for visual media: “Skyfall,” Adele and Paul Epworth.
– Musical theater album : Kinky Boots , Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter, Stark Sands, Sammy James Jr., Stephen Oremus and William Wittman.
– Producer of the year, classical: David Frost.
– Instrumental composition: “Pensamientos for Solo Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orechestra,” Clare Fischer.
– Orchestral performance : “Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4,” Osmo Vanska, conductor.
– Opera recording: Ades: The Tempest, Thomas Ades, Simon Keenlyside, Isabel Leonard, Audrey Luna, Alan Oke, Jay David Saks.
– Choral performance: Part: Adam’s Lament, Tonu Kaljuste, conductor.
– Short-form music video: “Suit & Tie,” Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z, David Fincher, Timory King.
– Long-form music video: “Live Kisses,” Paul McCartney, Jonas Akerlund, Violaine Etienne, Aron Levin and Scott Rodger.
– Historical album: The Complete Sussex and Columbia Albums of Bill Withers , Leo Sacks, Joseph M. Palmaccio, Tom Ruff and Mark Wilder, and Charlie is My Darling , Teri Landi, Andrew Loog Oldham, Steve Rosenthal and Bob Ludwig.