Grammys to honour 50 years of hip-hop with star-studded performances, after past criticisms

Rapper Lil Wayne performs on stage. (Courtesy: AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Hip hop’s hottest artists will perform in honour of the 50th anniversary of the genre at the annual Grammy Awards on Sunday. 

Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliot, Future, GloRilla, Ice-T, Lil Wayne, Method Man, Nelly, Queen Latifah, RUN-DMC and Salt-N-Pepa are among some of the big names slated to perform. 

Six-time Grammy winner Questlove is co-curating the Hip-Hop 50 tribute performance, and LL Cool J will start the segment. 

DJ Khaled is also set to perform, “God Did” at the award show, bringing featured artists on the song, including Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, John Legend and Fridayy. “God Did” is up for song of the year at the award show, which recognizes the best in the music industry.

The planned hip-hop tribute comes after past criticisms of discrimination and bias in their nominee selection. The Grammys formed a task force in May 2018 after their January ceremony of that year honoured mostly men and pop music. 

The 18-member task force was created to “examine barriers and biases affecting women and other underrepresented voices in the music industry,” according to a news release.

The Grammys also announced that an In Memoriam segment will include tributes to three artists who died last fall—Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie and Quavo—and three breakout hip-hop artists will perform for the tribute. 

The Grammys is set for Sunday from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. EST, with Trevor Noah hosting the event for a third time.

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