From the NY Times:
A couple of hours after the Grammys on Sunday night, Macklemore sent a text to Kendrick Lamar, whom he had just beaten out to win the award for best rap album.
“You got robbed,” the text read. “I wanted you to win. You should have.” He added, “I robbed you.”
As a private act, this was a love letter, a way for an artist to acknowledge a peer. As a public act — Macklemore posted an image of the text on his Instagram account, though it’s unclear whether it was with Mr. Lamar’s knowledge — it was a cleansing and an admission of guilt. Not only did Macklemore want to show respect to his fellow rapper, he wanted the world to know that he understood his place in the hip-hop ecosystem, and was still careful where he stepped.
NY Times: Finding a Place in the Hip-Hop Ecosystem