Hip-hop celebrated its 50th anniversary with a star-studded tribute at the 65th Grammy Awards on Sunday. To commemorate the occasion, 33 rappers—from Grandmaster Flash to GloRilla—took the stage at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, backed by The Roots. The 10-minute retrospective began with LL Cool J and Black Thought introducing Grandmaster Flash before he performed “The Message.”
With “King of Rock,” Run-DMC brought it back, followed by Salt-N-Pepa and DJ Spinderella with “R U Ready.” Rakim, Public Enemy, Scarface, Ice-T, and Queen Latifah joined the legendary lineup to perform “U.N.I.T.Y.”
JAY-Z rapped along with Method Man’s performance of “Wu-Tang Clan” from his seat. Busta Rhymes pumped up the crowd with “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” and his fiery verse from Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now,” while Missy Elliott shook the stage with “Lose Control.”
They were followed by Nelly, Too $hort, and The Lox, as well as current hitmakers Lil Baby and GloRilla, who had the audience on their feet with “F.N.F. (Let’s Go).”
Lil Uzi Vert gathered everyone for the epic finale, which was accompanied by his anthem “Just Wanna Rock.”
Watch the history-making performance below.
Wow, shout out the genius Questlove’s direction. #Grammys2023’s celebration performance of 50 years of hip hop with so many legends part one… amazing pic.twitter.com/9OoOfzWGtC
— heysocialmedia (@zamnzapitalism) February 6, 2023
