NEW YORK: Rapper Kendrick Lamar and retro funk star Bruno Mars on Sunday picked up early awards at the Grammys, but Jay-Z remained a force to be reckoned with on a major night for hip-hop.
The music industry´s gala, taking place in New York after 15 years in Los Angeles, opened with shows of support for the #MeToo movement to end sexual harassment, with a number of A-listers wearing white roses as symbols of solidarity.
The Recording Academy of 13,000 music professionals handed out dozens of awards in side categories before the televised show at Madison Square Garden.
Mars swept the R&B category and Lamar triumphed in hip-hop, with each of them earning three awards.
But Jay-Z had been leading with eight nominations as he basked in acclaim for "4:44," an introspective album in which he admits infidelity to his wife Beyonce and explores institutional racism.
Hip-hop has an uneven history with the Recording Academy, with only two mostly rap works winning the most prestigious Grammy for Album of the Year.
But in a sign of shifting cultural trends, this year the majority of contenders for the top prize are hip-hop artists.
Lamar won Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance and Best Music Video for "HUMBLE.," a playful take on the trappings of fame in which the 30-year-old portrays himself as Jesus in "The Last Supper."
Mars took the Best R&B Album for "24K Magic," his latest return to old-school, fun-loving funk.
- Reconciling with the Grammys -
Jay-Z, who rose from a broken home in Brooklyn to become a multimillionaire businessman, had refused to attend the Grammys in 1999 because the Recording Academy snubbed fellow rapper DMX.
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