Grammy Awards Honor Hip-Hop 50th Anniversary With All-Star Performance – The Hollywood Reporter

Recording Academy will celebrate 50 years of hip-hop at the Grammys with an all-star performance featuring Missy Elliott, Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash, Queen Latifah, RUN-DMC, Lil Wayne, Rakim, and more.

The academy said on Thursday that LL Cool J – who has hosted Grammys in the past – will showcase the segment and dedicate himself to hip-hop. Questlove will serve as music director and producer, while his band The Roots will perform on stage and Black Thought will narrate.

Others who will perform include De La Soul, Big Boi, Scarface, Salt-N-Pepa and Spinderella, Grandmaster Mele Mel & Scorpio/Ethiopian King, Ice-T, Busta Rhymes with Spliff Star, The Lox, Method Man, Raheim, Lil Baby, Too $hort, Future, Nelly, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Swizz Beatz, DJ Drama and GloRilla.

Questlove will produce the segment alongside Jesse Collins, Patrick Menton of Fulwell 73, creative producer and choreographer Fatima Robinson, and Questlove’s manager and LNU President, Shawn Gee.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. “Its contributions to art, fashion, sport, politics and society cannot be overstated. I’m so proud that we honored it in such a spectacular way on the Grammy stage. This is just the beginning of our year-long celebration of this essential music genre.”

The performance is part of Paramount’s initiative to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. CBS, in partnership with the academy, will air a special hip-hop music event later this year.

Trevor Noah will host the Grammy Awards, broadcast live on CBS from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Kendrick Lamar is the top nominated rapper, competing for eight titles, including album, song and record of the year. Others from rap nominated for the award include Jay-Z, DJ Khaled, Drake, Pusha T, Future, Latto, Young Tung, Gunna and Jack Harlow.