'' Billboard '' critics commented at the end of the year , " twenty years ago , a conscious rap record would n't have penetrated the mainstream in the way Kendrick Lamar did with '' To Pimp A Butterfly '' . His sense of timing is impeccable . In the midst of rampant cases of police brutality and racial tension across America , he spews raw , aggressive bars while possibly cutting a rug , " while '' Pitchfork '' editors noted it " forced critics to think deeply about music . It 's an album by the greatest rapper of his generation . " Producer Tony Visconti stated David Bowie 's album '' Blackstar '' ( 2016 ) was influenced by Lamar 's work , " we were listening to a lot of Kendrick Lamar ... we loved the fact Kendrick was so open-minded and he did n't do a straight-up hip-hop record . He threw everything on there , and that 's exactly what we wanted to do . " Visconti also stated this about Lamar while talking about " rule-breakers " in music . " His album '' To Pimp A Butterfly '' broke every rule in the book and he had a number one album glued to the top of the charts . You ’d think certain labels would learn form that . But they take somebody who is out there and say , ' That 's what people want . ' No , people want that for one week . You do n’t want the same song every single day of your life . " Lamar won five Grammys at the 58th ceremony , including Best Rap Album for '' To Pimp a Butterfly '' . Other nominations included Album of the Year and Song of the Year . At the ceremony , Lamar performed a medley of " The Blacker the Berry " and " Alright " . It was ranked by '' Rolling Stone '' and '' Billboard '' as the best moment of the night , with the latter writing " It was easily one of the best live TV performances in history . " On March 4 , 2016 , Lamar released a compilation album '' Untitled Unmastered '' , containing eight untitled tracks , each dated . Lamar later confirmed that the tracks were unfinished demos from the recording of '' To Pimp a Butterfly '' . The compilation album debuted atop the US '' Billboard '' 200
58th ceremony
58th Annual Grammy Awards
Kendrick Lamar