Rapper Joyner Lucas has developed a hard-core fan base in a short amount of time, but nowhere is his fan base more devoted than here in his native Worcester, where locals were watching the Grammy Awards closely Sunday night, to see if he'd win either of the two awards for which he'd been nominated.

He didn't, but that's almost beside the point.

His popular "I'm Not Racist" video was in the running for Best Music Video, where the top honor went to Childish Gambino for "This is America." For Best Rap Song, Lucas was hoping "Lucky You," his effort with Eminem, would earn an award. Drake's "God's Plan" took the category.

The fact is, his victories were always long shots. That's not a commentary on the quality of his work, somuch as it is on the nature of the Grammys. Indeed, the fact that he was nominated for two awards without the force of a record label is nothing short of remarkable. Lucas was previously signed to Atlantic Records, but announced on Instagram Dec. 23 that he was now fully independent, and that his next project, "ADHD," will be released independently.

Between his free-agency and relative newness to the national scene, actually winning a Grammy was an uphill battle. For all the attention that "I'm Not Racist" got, it paled before the amount of attention Gambino's "This Is America" received. While both were viral sensations, Gambino's spread further, with 484,225,510 views on the official YouTube video to Lucas' 111,556,341. Both numbers are astronomical, but clearly Gambino's being more established