The Hip-hop Corner March 2023
Hip-hop’s 50 Year Anniversary The 2023 Grammy Awards highlight a music artform they once rejected, but now embrace.
Issue #1
MADHATTER 50 years of Hip-hop – The Grammy’s tribute and why its important Hip-hop and the Grammys have not always had a “love” relationship. It took the Grammys over 10 years to recognize hiphop music as a legitimate art form. In 1989 the first Grammy award for hip-hop was given to DJ jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince for their commercially successful and culturally acceptable hit song “Parents just don’t understand”. The fact that the Grammy’s did not give Hip-hop music a platform until a charismatic, attractive, young rapper who did not use profanity in his raps emerged is an indication of something systemic, but we will talk about that another day. Even though Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince took home the music industry’s most coveted award, they protested and did not appear to receive it. Multiple members of the hip-hop elite had also decided to protest the Grammys in solidarity because the Grammys were not giving the “Best Rap Performance” air time on television. The ironic thing is Hip-hop will eventually be a part of everything that the Grammys will do from that day forward; visually and musically.
Queen Latifah rocking the mic at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
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Left to right, Busta Rhymes, Flava Flav, LL Cool J and more represent hip-hop’s 50 year anniversary with an amazing perfomance at the 2023 Grammy Awards show.
Well, today hip-hop is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has influenced almost every genre of music, worldwide. Hiphop style, culture, slang, and creative fundamentals have found their way into all aspects of American music. From Jazz to country music, hip-hop’s influence can be heard and seen as it has changed the landscape of music. Hip-hop culture has now become synonymous with American culture, placing hiphop more aligned with Americans than Country Music or Rock.
this explosion in popularity, the Grammys began including hip-hop more visibly and added more awards, nine in total. But even when the Grammys takes a step forward for hip-hop it takes a leap backward. In 2014 rap group Macklemore & Ryan Lewis took home the Grammy for their album “The Heist” over Kendrick Lamar’s “Good Kid: M.A.A.D City” Kendrick Lamar is now a “Pulitzer Prize” winner and has gone on has won 160 awards from 399 nominations, including 13 Grammy Awards.
Over the last 34 years, the Grammy’s have continued to disrespect an art form that is, in its creation, born of American spirit and perseverance. Instead of embracing, promoting, and supporting the most influential product the United States has ever created and exported, they continued to shun multi-platinum artists such as DMX, The Notorious B.I.G, N.W.A, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, MC Lyte, and RUN DMC. Some of these artists were nominated, but all of these artists fell short of taking home music’s most wanted honor.
It’s been a long rocky road between hip/ hop and the Grammys, but this article is focused on the positive. This article is focused on the amazing performance that took center stage at the 2023 Grammy awards. A performance that highlighted the 50-year history of an art form that has been underappreciated since its creation. The performance was incredible and made sure to showcase hip-hop artists that made major impacts in Hip-hops’ rise to global dominance. From the old school to the new, the Grammys represented Hip-hop music for thirteen-plus minutes and represented it well.
As the years passed and hip-hop continued to gain popularity worldwide, mainstream media and corporations were forced to recognize its power to influence. With
Questlove, the drummer from the iconic rap band “The Roots”, was tasked with the extremely difficult assignment of putting
