Once shunned the Recording Academy, hip-hop was honored on Sunday at The 2023 Grammy Awards celebrating the genre’s 50th anniversary with performances by influential artists from its past, present and future.
LL Cool J which I amIn 1989, he boycotted the award ceremony along with other high-profile rappers, when the academy didn’t televise its first rap awards, led the All-Star Salute on Sunday night.
Hip-hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Melle Mel and Rahiem of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five burst onto the scene with an insightful cut from their 1982 single, “The Message.”
For other performances, they were joined by big names in 1980s hip-hop such as Run-DMC, DJ Jazzy Jeff, A public enemy and Ice T, the latter of whom is often considered “the godfather of gangsta rap.”
Major artists who rose to prominence in the 1990s were also in attendance, with a strong New York and East Coast contingent including Busta Rhymes of Spliff Star, De La Soul, Method Man of the Wu Tang Clan, Rakim, Salt -N-Pepa, Locks, and Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott. Also among the 1990s acts were Houston’s Scarface and the Bay Area’s Too Short.
While Method Man was spitting beats, Jay-Z was spotted in the crowd shaking his head, smiling and reading the lyrics. DJ Khaled also nodded his approval, at one point holding up and waving a lighter during Busta Rhymes’ set, before the Brooklyn legend launched into one of his signature rapid-fire deliveries from his 2011 hit “Look at Me Now.”
The 2000s were represented by Nelly, Outkast’s Big Boy and DJ Drama. The 2010s and present featured Swizz Beatz, Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert and GloRilla.
“I might have gray hair like Obama by the end of the night,” Questlove, whose real name is Ahmir Halib Thompson, joked to E! correspondent Laverne Cox on the Grammys red carpet. “This is 14-year-old Ahmir, who brings his jukebox with what he listened to as a child. But it’s also inclusive because it’s from my generation, from future generations, from Generation Z. Everyone is included, so it’s … a special moment.”
Ahead of the performance, Questlove, who co-produced and curated the show with his band the Roots, called hip-hop “a driving force in music and culture” that has had an “immeasurable impact on our culture and our culture.” world”.
“On the first day of rehearsals, it was nothing short of a love fest,” he said in a press release. “It was DMC gushing over Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five … It’s a family reunion.”
The Recording Academy didn’t always appreciate hip-hop. In 1989 The Grammys did not broadcast the rap award. “If they don’t want us, we don’t want them,” Salt-N-Pepa said that year, boycotting the show. Despite this omission, the following year, a rap album spent the most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, L. Z. Granderson of The Times wrote recently in a column marking the genre’s 50th anniversary.
“That’s because the sound came from people whose voices would never be silenced,” Granderson wrote, tracing the birth of hip-hop to DJ Cool Herc’s house parties at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx in 1973. “This is why black music is described as an ‘elusive spirit’ in the documentary series Project 1619.” Hip-hop may be 50 years old, but its pedigree goes back much further.”
The pioneers of the genre did not miss the importance of the evening.
“The Grammys didn’t even respect hip-hop for so long, and now to be here, to be honored in this way, we’ll take it, absolutely,” Ice-T told People’s Jeremy Parsons and Jeanine Rubenstein on the red carpet.
“You think about it, it’s kind of full circle, from being recognized at the Grammys to getting your moment to celebrate 50 years of what I like to call ‘The Best Music on the Planet,'” Nelly, who performed Sunday night, also told People on the red carpet.
“It’s right,” Queen Latifah told Cox and I! on the red carpet before joining the show. “We had to fight to get to the Grammys for quite some time, so it’s great to be here to celebrate it in front of the world with people who were my mentors.”
Flava Flav of Public Enemy, who showed up with one of his signature chains and also performed on Sunday, exclaimed on the red carpet, “This is to all those who said hip-hop wouldn’t last!”
Here is the full list and talent list for the star salute:
Chapter 1:
- Black Thought (short story)
- Grandmaster Flash with Barshon, Melle Mel, Rahiem & Scorpio: “Flash to the Beat”
- Grandmaster Flash with Barshon, Melle Mel, Rahiem & Scorpio: “The Message”
- Run-DMC: “King of Rock”
- LL Cool J: “I Can’t Live Without The Radio”
- DJ Jazzy Jeff: “Rock the Bells”
- Salt-N-Pepa: “My Mic Sounds Good”
- Rakim: “Eric B is the president”
- Chuck D & Flavor Flav: “Rebel Without a Pause”
Chapter 2:
- Black Thought with LL Cool J: “El Shabazz Skit”
- De La Soul: “Buddy”
- Scarface: “My mind is playing tricks on me”
- Ice-T: “The New Jack Hustler (Nino Theme)”
- Queen Latifah: “UNITY”
- Method Man: “Method Man”
- Big Boi: “ATLiens”
- Busta Rhymes & Spliff Star: “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” / “Look at Me Now”
- Missy Elliott: “Losing Control”
Section 3:
- Queen Latifah (short story)
- Nelly & City Spud: “Hot in Herre”
- Too $hort: “Blow the Whistle”
- Swizz Beatz & the Lox: “We Gonna Make It”
- Lil Baby: “Freestyle”
- GloRilla: “FNF (let’s go)”
- Lil Uzi Vert: “Just Wanna Rock”
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