Here’s every artist who performed at the Grammys’ 50th anniversary hip-hop tribute
Big Boi, Run-DMC, Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, and (many, many) more showed up to celebrate hip-hop at the Grammys
Aux News The Grammys
During the 2023 Grammy Awards, LL Cool J and Questlove introduced a celebration for the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, bringing out a massive group of hip-hop icons to run through a couple lines of one of their hits, maybe do some slick choreographed dance moves, and then promptly step aside so the next famous person could come out. It was a big event, and one of the highlights of the otherwise straightforward show, but there a lot going on. So, if you want to just cut to the chase and find out who all was involved (or if you’re wondering if your favorite stopped by before you go the trouble of looking up a video of the tribute), here’s pretty much everyone who was there (though it all moved pretty quickly and it was hard to clock every single person who made an appearance, so there may have been some notable cameos we missed).
Big Boi (“ATLiens”), Busta Rhymes (“Look at Me Now”), De La Soul(“Buddy”), DJ Drama, DJ Jazzy Jeff (“Rock the Bells”), Missy Elliott (“Lose Control”), Future (“Fuck Up Some Commas”), GloRilla (“FNF”), Grandmaster Flash, Mele Mel, Rahim & Scorpio (“Flash to the Beat” and “The Message”), Ice-T, Lil Baby (“Freestyle”), Lil Wayne (“A Milli”), Swizz Beatz & The Lox (“We Gonna Make It”), Method Man (“Method Man”), Nelly (“Hot In Here”), Public Enemy (“Bring The Noise”), Queen Latifah (“U.N.I.T.Y.”), Run-DMC (“King Of Rock), Salt-N-Peppa (“My Mic Sounds Nice”) Scarface (“My Mind’s Playing Tricks on Me”), Black Thought, Questlove, LL Cool J (“I Can’t Live Without My Radio”), and Too $hort (“Blow The Whistle”). There were also nods to artists who weren’t included, like a Beastie Boys T-shirt that was highlighted during the Run-DMC segment and a rolling list of names onscreen behind everyone.
Before the show started, Questlove spoiled that another very famous person was set to perform: Will Smith, who would’ve been making a very headline-generating return to awards shows after… that thing that happened at another awards show last year. Unfortunately, he had to pull out because of a scheduling conflict with production on the recently announced Bad Boys 4.
11 Comments
I did CTRL+ “Vanilla Ice” and it turned up nothing.
Did you stop, collaborate and listen?
Good, that means it’s working.
No Public Enemy? Scandalous!!
Man I miss Adam Yauch. That guy could drop science like Galileo dropped the orange.
Well, I guess now we know who gives a fuck about a goddam Grammy.
My favorite part, aside from De La Soul, was knowing that it must have absolutely killed DJ Khaled not to be onstage shouting his name over each of their songs, and interjecting “Another one!” before each act.
I’ll have to re-watch this because I don’t remember the A Milli segment at all. I was only half paying attention, but that’s the sort of track that would pique my interest immediately.Also, did it feel to anyone else like there were huge chunks of hip-hop history missing? It was like 75% 80s/early 90s and then jumped straight from mid/late 2000s to the Soundcloud era with nothing in between. Wasn’t Kendrick there? He would’ve been a great addition, as would’ve someone like Tyler the Creator, to represent the 2010s.
Noted omissions:Q-tip?Mike D?Dre/Ice Cube/anyone from NWA?Eminem?Jurassic 5?
Glorilla clearly the one that doesn’t belong alongside those names.
You forgot Rakim. I mean, he’s only the greatest MC of all-time, so no big deal.