The Grammy’s have been known for its dislike towards Hip-Hop culture for years. This year, however, they seemed to have had a change of heart, dedicating 14 minutes of the award ceremony to celebrate Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary. Five decades of Hip-Hop were performed on Feb 5, 2023, the day that the Grammys made history by celebrating history.
Many legendary performers hopped on stage to showcase evolution in Hip-Hop. In a 14 minute span, over twenty artists, including some of the founding fathers and rookies of rap, set the stage on fire with their debut songs that added to the livelihood of Hip-Hop. This soul shocking surprise had the crowd in utter amazement as they watched decades of greatness perform right in front of their eyes.
The line-up was a true timeline following what Hip-Hop is. The opening act was a narration by none other than Black Thought himself, taking us down a poetic yet powerful speech of what Hip-Hop is. He set the tone for the amazement that was about to come next.
The two remaining MC’s of RUN-DMC Rev. Run and DMC took everybody back when they started spitting the rhymes to “King of Rock.” Then LL Cool J, who boycotted the Grammys in 1989, performed his hit “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” with a stereo in his arm like he used to have back in the day. Then the two remaining MC’s of RUN-DMC Rev. Run and DMC took everybody back when they started spitting the rhymes to “King of Rock.”
Let us not forget some of the Queens of Hip-Hop as well. Salt-n-Pepa came to spice things up on stage as they performed “My Mic Sounds Nice” while looking extremely nice even decades after this song was released. Following them, Rakim got the crowd hyped to “Eric B. is President.” Right after that, Public Enemy’s own Chuck D and Flavor Flav had everyone jumping as they rapped “Rebel Without A Pause.”
The show did not stop as some of the late 80’s artists hit the stage as De La Soul performed his classic “Buddy.” Then Scarface goes crazy as he recites his lyrics to “My Mind is Playin’ Tricks on Me.” Additionally, Ice-T had the audience in amazement as he raps “New Jack Hustle (Nino’s Theme). It warmed my heart to see him outside of Law & Order and seeing him lay down the law in Hip-Hop.
Queen Latifah kicked the Grammys up a notch as she transitioned us to the nineties era, smoothly stepping in with her dancers as she rekindled the lyrics to her classic song “U.N.I.T.Y.” Everybody was out of their seat joining her in sync as they sang along. After this, Method Man takes the stage by storm as he energetically spells his name “M-E-T-H-O-D, MAN!” just like he did on the song “Method Man” with Wu-Tang in 1993.
These performances were out of this world, just like Big Boi’s energy as he rapped his verse and chorus to “ATLiens” which was released by Outkast, one of the legendary duos in rap history. It was hard to not see Andre’ 3000 there with his high quality styles and cold verses, but it was great to see Big Boi giving everything he could to keep the reputation of Outkast alive.
Just when you thought the night couldn’t get any better, Busta Rhymes and his right-hand-man Spliff Star took the stage with straight heat. They performed one of Busta Rhymes most popular songs “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See,” and I am sure everyone’s palms were well in his peripheral vision. Because Busta Rhymes was highly favored in the 90’s and the 2000’s, he takes initiative to transition to a more current time in history by performing his well known and respected verse in “Look At Me Now.” I can’t speak for everyone else, but I personally could not keep up with his speed.
The night continued with profound energy as Missy Elliott swept the stage with her mindblowing choreography, her dancers lighting the stage up with their feet as she rapped her lyrics to “Lose Control.” It was so cool to see her dance and rap, giving the crowd everything she had and more.
Nelly was giving everyone major heat with his throwback jam “Hot in Here.” The throwbacks continued as Too $hort took the stage with his song “Blow the Whistle.”
There was so much life on that stage that was both rhythmic and spoken. Swizz Beatz & The Lox were DJing “We Gonna Make It,” showing everyone that he still got it after all these years. Quest Love was on drums, playing along to almost every song with immense and immaculate timing. Everyone was nodding their heads in agreement as the rhythm lured them in.
The performance ended with a recap of the amazing Hip-Hop artist that we have in the industry today. Lil Baby did his thing on one his most popular singles “Freestyle.” Lil Uzi Vert, with this peculiar yet inviting hairstyle, took the stage and rocked it with his new and most popular song in the charts “I Just Wanna Rock.” Finally, to close the night out, Glo Rilla had everyone jumping to her most popular hit “F.N.F (Let’s Go).”
The overall show that they gave was a 10/10 without any hesitation. Those MC’s schooled the Grammys, showing them what it really meant to live through Hip-Hop. The only difficult thing for me to notice was that Lil Wayne sadly did not perform, because I know he was without a doubt one of the pillars of Hip-Hop in the 2000’s. Aside from that, this performance was soul snatching, and an amazing way to celebrate 50 years of Hip-Hop. If you want to listen to the songs that were performed, you can click here to listen now on Spotify!