Early Grammy Winners: Adele, Michael Buble, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis stirred the pot when they won Best Rap Album for The Heist, as well as Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for "Thrift Shop," beating the likes of Jay Z, Kanye West, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar, undoubtedly offending many rap purists, leading the way for more controversy in tonight's nationally televised show.
Earlier in the day, Michael Buble won his fourth best traditional pop vocal album Grammy.
Buble was one of the early winners Sunday at the Grammy Awards. Herb Alpert's Steppin' Out was named best pop instrumental album, Ziggy Marley won reggae album and Stephen Colbert won spoken word album.
Cyndi Lauper announced some of the early awards during the pre-telecast ceremony, jokingly giving acceptance speeches for the artists who were not present. The red carpet opened with a crush of people ahead of the show, as most of the nominees in the less mainstream categories vying for camera time before the big stars flooded in. Lauper picked up her own Grammy later on for "Kinky Boots" as Best Musical Theater Album, her first since copping Best New Artist back in 1984.
Alpert won his sixth Grammy and first since 1979 in the same category, while Marley's best reggae album win was his third in the category.
Colbert won for best spoken word album over the likes of Carol Burnett, David Sedaris, Billy Crystal and Pete Seeger.
Kathy Griffin earned her first for Best Comedy Album, for which she tirelessly campaigns every year, while Adele took her 10th since 2008 for the theme from Skyfall in Best Song for Visual Media.
Major awards are going to be announced later in the pre-show and nominee Macklemore believes Kendrick Lamar deserves the best rap album Grammy, but if he and his producer take home the award, he feels it is justified.
"I think that we made a great album that pushed the genre of hip-hop," the 30-year-old artist said. "I think that hip-hop can be at times resistant to change and when you see two white dudes from Seattle, Washington, rapping about gay marriage, it's like, 'Hold up, this isn't hip-hop,' when in actuality it is. Hip-hop has always been about expansion, about pushing the genre, about challenging the listener."
Daft Punk won Electronica/Dance Album for "Random Access Memories," but they were busy rehearsing for the kudocast to pick up the prize.
Justin Timberlake shared in the R&B Song award for his hit "Pusher Love Girl" and the Music Video prize for "Suit and Tie."
Alicia Keys won the R&B Album prize for "Girl on Fire" and Rihanna took Urban Contemporary Album for "Unapologetic."
Source 1, Source 2, More Winners