Macklemore suggests Grammy win over Kendrick Lamar was to do with race: ‘I’m benefiting from the system I’ve been calling out’

Rapper controversially beat Lamar to the Best Rap Album prize back in 2014

Macklemore has said that his infamous Grammy win over Kendrick Lamar in 2014 was due in part to his skin colour.

The Caucasian rapper, real name Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, took home the Best Rap Album prize in for The Heist, recorded as half of a duo alongside Ryan Lewis.

The Heist's win was controversial at the time, as the album beat out Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, which is widely considered one of the most accomplished hip-hop record of all time.

Speaking on a recent episode of Uproxx's People’s Party With Talib Kweli, Macklemore said: "I’m struggling with like, ‘Damn, I’m benefiting from the system I’ve been calling out since I was f***ing 20 years old.'

"Here I am at the highest level of artistic merit, the Grammys, and here I am benefiting from the same s*** I’ve been talking about. So I was conflicted."

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis accepting the trophy in 2014 (AFP via Getty Images)

The artist claimed that people wrongly characterised his reaction as "guilt".

"It was, ‘He feels guilty about being white.’ That’s so surface level. Was there an air of that? Absolutely. Was that the reason? Absolutely not at the forefront."

After the Grammy ceremony in 2014, Macklemore sent Lamar a text message which read: "You got robbed. I wanted you to win. You should have. It’s weird and it sucks that I robbed you."

The rapper then shared the text on Instagram.