At the end of his emotionally charged performance at the 58th Grammy Awards, rapper Kendrick Lamar stood in front of a screen that projected an outline of Africa with his hometown, Compton, superimposed over the continent.
Lamar started the medley of "The Blacker the Berry" and "Alright" handcuffed, in a jail cell, driving home the topical nature of his album, "To Pimp a Butterfly."
Lamar was the most nominated artist of the evening with 11 nods, but despite his album's urgency, daring approach at breaking rap conventions and universal acclaim, it lost the night's biggest honor — album of the year — to Taylor Swift.
In 2016, a year in which the word "diversity" has been a hot topic in the wake of #OscarsSoWhite and when the conversation about race relations in the U.S. is as polarizing as it has ever been, Lamar's album seemed poised to win big given its timely subject matter.