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Kendrick Lamar performs at the 58th GRAMMY Awards

Kendrick Lamar

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

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Watch GRAMMY Rap Performances On Apple Music apple-music-watch-classic-grammy-rap-performances

Apple Music: Watch Classic GRAMMY Rap Performances

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From Kendrick Lamar and MC Hammer to Run-D.M.C. to A Tribe Called Quest, relive the rhymes of GRAMMY rap performances courtesy of Apple Music
Brian Haack
GRAMMYs
Jan 24, 2018 - 6:54 am

From an underground movement founded on the streets of New York City and the urban sprawl of South Central Los Angeles, to taking the reins in 2017 as the most popular music genre in the U.S., the storied histories of rap and hip-hop have grown to become an indelible part of the cultural zeitgeist over the past four decades.

Paying heed to the unstoppable power and passion of the growing scene that had built its foundation throughout the 1980s, Music's Biggest Night first began to formally recognize excellence in hip-hop and rap performance at the 31st GRAMMY Awards. Presenter Kool Moe Dee aptly heralded the dawning of a new era in his "GRAMMY Rap", proudly declaring, "We personify power and a drug-free mind, and we express ourselves through rhythm and rhyme. So I think it’s time that the whole world knows rap is here to stay."

In the years since, the GRAMMY stage has seen many, many unforgettable performances by the world's hottest rappers. Now, thanks to the Recording Academy and Apple Music's exclusive commemorative video collection in celebration of the 60th GRAMMY Awards, you can revisit all the memorable moments.

A full year before the institution of the Best Rap Performance category, at the 30th GRAMMY Awards rap pioneers Run-D.M.C. made their case for the scene when they took over the GRAMMY stage for a rabble-rousing performance of "Tougher Than Leather." With eccentric excesses of '90s streetwear fashion on full display, the inimitable MC Hammer broke out his flashiest pants for the 33rd GRAMMY Awards, where he performed his immortal "U Can't Touch This."

Alternative hip-hop collective Arrested Development made a splash at the 35th GRAMMY Awards, with the unique combination of street realness and forceful optimism encompassed by the performance of their hit "People Everyday." New York-based neo-beatnik rap trio Digable Planets' unique re-envisioning of jazz fundamentals as the building blocks of their hyper-cool rap ethos brought the house down at the 36th GRAMMYs with their performance of "Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)."

Female hip-hop trio Salt-N-Pepa brought the R&B vibes in full force at the 37th telecast  with their sensual performance of "Whatta Man." Returning to the GRAMMY stage 10 years after taking home the first-ever GRAMMY Award for Best Rap Performance,  Will Smith blew the crowd up at the 41st GRAMMY Awards with his Best Rap Solo Performance-winning "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It."  Smith would also return to the GRAMMY Stage just two years later, at the 43rd telecast, this time linking back up with DJ Jazzy Jeff for a Fresh Prince revival and medley of Smith's solo hits "Freakin' It" and "Wild Wild West."

In the aftermath of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the 51st GRAMMY Awards, were marked by a particularly poignant performance of "Tie My Hands" by Lil Wayne and Robin Thicke, interpolated amongst a medley including "Big Chief" and "Feet Don't Fail Me Now" alongside fellow New Orleans-natives Allen Toussaint and Terence Blanchard. With a powerful political statement to make, Kendrick Lamar took center stage at the 58th GRAMMYs wrapped in chains and standing before a projection reminiscent of prison bars for an unforgettable performance of "The Blacker The Berry."

In a performance that both served to help publicly memorialized their fallen co-founder Phife Dawg and make a public statement of resistance against the prevailing political trends of the previous year, the surviving members of A Tribe Called Quest teamed alongside Anderson .Paak, Busta Rhymes, and Consequence for a barrier-bashing medley of "Award Tour 2017," "Movin Backwards," and "We The People…" at the 59th GRAMMY Awards.

All of these iconic performances and more are available only on Apple Music. Watch now at Applemusic.com/GRAMMYs.

The 60th GRAMMY Awards will take place at New York City's Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Jan. 28. The telecast will be broadcast live on CBS at 7:30–11 p.m. ET/4:30–8 p.m. PT.

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Have Hip-Hop And R&B Music Really Eclipsed Rock? how-hip-hop-and-rb-crushed-their-competition-can-rock-bounce-back

How Hip-Hop And R&B Crushed Their Competition: Can Rock Bounce Back?

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Chart success, streaming, GRAMMYs and smashing guitars — how the R&B and hip-hop genres beat rock at its own game
Kathy Iandoli
GRAMMYs
Feb 19, 2018 - 2:20 pm

There was a time in the not so distant past when hip-hop was likened to disco. A flash in the pan genre defined by its hyperbolic expression of sound and style, disco fizzled out in the early '80s once the fashion and sonic trends attached to it expired.

Hip-hop was presumably following in its footsteps, especially when so many break records were layered with disco samples to create the early framework of hip-hop's sound — think the Sugarhill Gang's 1979 hit "Rapper's Delight" (GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, 2014), which sampled Chic's 1979 No. 1 smash, "Good Times."

But hip-hop persevered and brought with it an evolution of the R&B genre as well. Combined, the two genres became unstoppable, eclipsing a flimsy stigma of being confined to an "urban" box. Now, four and a half decades since hip-hop's inception, the genre has seemingly taken the music industry over along with R&B, beating rock at its own game. How did we get here?

Theoretically, the move has been gradual, though 2017 marked a quantifiable shift leaning in hip-hop and R&B's favor. First, there are the sales figures: Hip-hop and R&B accounted for 25 percent of music consumption in 2017, with rock trailing at 23 percent. Add to that an uptick in audio streaming in 2017 by 72 percent — with 29 percent of music streamed online being hip-hop and R&B combined, matching rock and pop, which also combined for 29 percent of music streamed online. The two previously gigantic leaders in major genres are now neck-and-neck with the "underdogs" of R&B and hip-hop.

But per Nielsen's 2017 year-end report, eight of the top 10 albums were, in fact, hip-hop or R&B albums, including Drake and Kendrick Lamar for More Life and DAMN., respectively. Meanwhile, Drake and Lamar held down the top two spots on the list of most popular artists based on total consumption (sales and streaming), while Bruno Mars, Eminem, Future, The Weeknd, and Lil Uzi Vert were also among the other artists that proved hip-hop and R&B were the most widely consumed collective genres this past year.

The 60th GRAMMY Awards further punctuated that claim, as artists like Jay-Z and SZA found homes in the General Four categories, with Mars — who earned Record, Album and Song Of The Year — and Lamar sweeping wins across the board.

Watch: Bruno Mars Wins Album Of The Year

Phrases like "the death of rock and roll" have been continually tossed around since this cycle of news arrived. The latest strike against rock came when Coachella announced that for the first time in its 19-year existence there wouldn't be a rock act headlining the festival. The three headliners for the 2018 installment will be Beyoncé, Eminem and The Weeknd.

"I think it speaks to the strength of the music and the strength of the fan base," explains Jeriel Johnson, Executive Director of the Recording Academy Washington, D.C. Chapter. "The fans dictate who shows up on those stages."

While the 2017 tallies may suggest that sales and streams have finally caught up, industry insiders have seen the trends shifting over the last 5 to 10 years.

"Now so, even more than ever, music can be created and put out so much more quickly so when something is happening, urban music is reflecting that really quickly."

"R&B and hip-hop have always had a huge influence and impact on our culture, regardless of the time period — from fashion to slang to our tastes in music [and] cars," says GRAMMY-nominated producer Harvey Mason Jr.

However, with rap artists growing into cross-cultural icons, hip-hop poured into rock and vice versa.

"I immediately think of artists like Run-DMC, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Kid Cudi. These are a few of the pioneers who helped lay down the foundation for artists like Post Malone, Lil Uzi, [the late] Lil Peep, and Lil Pump to become the new generation of artists to continue the push forward the borders of hip-hop," explains Matthew Bernal manager of media for Republic Records. "From their trend-setting fashion, genre-bending sounds and riot-like live performances, millennials grew up watching these icons and the influence is clear in their music today."

Artists such as Rae Sremmurd, who released the groundbreaking "Black Beatles" with Gucci Mane in 2016, extended that aesthetic — the music video for the hit single showed the duo breaking TV sets with electric guitars.

Behind the song: Post Malone's "Congratulations"

"Post Malone's 'Rockstar,' which was the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight consecutive weeks last year, is a strong indication of how today's hip-hop artists view themselves: as rock stars," continues Bernal.

"Urban culture is the new rock," adds GRAMMY-winning producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. "[In] every era there's a change that takes place, and right now Migos, Kendrick Lamar — they're the new rock stars."

"I feel like it was bound to happen," says Nicole Johnson, industry relations at music streaming service Pandora. "Back in the day, rock and roll was started by an urban genre and urban people. But then it became 'sex, drugs, and rock and roll' and, now, isn't that what these hip-hop [artists] are now talking about? Here are rappers just living their best lives, being themselves, tattooing their faces if they feel like it, wearing dresses on the cover of their album if they feel like it. It's all about self-expression."

Johnson adds that Pandora's Next Big Sound has been driven by hip-hop and R&B as of late, leading to the service's launch of the weekly urban station, The Sauce. "There are now so many [sub]genres within hip-hop, of course, it's gonna take over.”

But in the wake of hip-hop and R&B's takeover, so was the digital boom. Urban music jumped onboard streaming services early, with platforms like SoundCloud birthing its own scene, SoundCloud rap, which has given way to artists such as Chance The Rapper and Rico Nasty who have equally dominated the space as other hip-hop artists.

"I think R&B/hip-hop is benefitting from changes in technology," says Mason, underscoring how today's fast turnaround in music creation has placed hip-hop and R&B at a unique vantage point, especially when it comes to topical music. "R&B and hip-hop really seem to have their ear to the ground culturally and in society with everything our country is going through.

"It just seems to be such a transparent outlet for people with feelings and opinions, and now so, even more than ever, music can be created and put out so much more quickly so when something is happening, urban music is reflecting that really quickly."

So where will we go from here? Is rock really fading away? And, if so, can it come back? While the cyclical nature of music would reflect an inevitable return, perhaps rock will have to once again evolve the way hip-hop and R&B had to in order to rise up.

"It'll rebound in a different kind of way, I believe," says Jerkins. "Someone will come along and do it in a newer and cooler way. But right now? Hip-hop, R&B — that's pop. Because pop music is anything that's popular."

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(Kathy Iandoli has penned pieces for Pitchfork, VICE, Maxim, O, Cosmopolitan, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and more. She co-authored the book Commissary Kitchen with Mobb Deep's late Albert "Prodigy" Johnson, and is a professor of music business at select universities throughout New York and New Jersey.)

DJ Jazzy Jeff at 1992 GRAMMYs

DJ Jazzy Jeff at 1992 GRAMMYs

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Watch: The Fresh Prince & Jazzy Jeff Win A GRAMMY grammy-rewind-dj-jazzy-jeff-fresh-prince-win-1991-bop-summertime

GRAMMY Rewind: DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Win For 1991 Bop "Summertime"

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Watch DJ Jazzy Jeff accept the award on behalf of the dynamic duo, looking cool in a boxy black suit with a colorful lapel and coordinating purple shirt and small, dark sunglasses
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Jan 22, 2021 - 11:23 am

For the latest episode of GRAMMY Rewind, we celebrate legendary hip-hop producer DJ Jazzy Jeff's birthday (Jan. 22) by revisiting his and Will Smith's win for their sunny 1991 bop, "Summertime" at the 34th GRAMMY Awards in 1992.

Below, watch Jeff accept the award on behalf of the dynamic pair, looking cool in a boxy black suit with a colorful lapel and coordinating purple shirt and small, dark sunglasses to top it off.

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's 1992 GRAMMY Win

"Summertime" was crowned Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group and earned the rap duo known as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince their second career GRAMMY win. The vibey, laid-back track was the lead single from their fourth studio album, Homebase.

They earned their first GRAMMY at the 31st GRAMMY Awards in 1989, winning Best Rap Performance for "Parents Just Don't Understand," from their second studio album, He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper.

Watch Will Smith's Powerful GRAMMY Acceptance Speech From 1998 | GRAMMY Rewind

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Childish Gambino, 2018

Childish Gambino

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The Most Shazam'd Performances Of The 2018 GRAMMYs childish-gambino-logic-little-big-town-most-shazamd-2018-grammys-performances

Childish Gambino, Logic, Little Big Town: The Most-Shazam'd 2018 GRAMMYs Performances

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See the 60th GRAMMYs Top 10 most-Shazam'd performances
Brian Haack
GRAMMYs
Jul 26, 2018 - 4:09 pm

The 60th GRAMMY Awards was packed with powerful performances by some of music's biggest stars. 

Watch: Unforgettable 60th GRAMMY Moments

From the throwback vibes of Cardi B's "Finnesse" performance with Album Of The Year winner Bruno Mars, to Kesha's empowering statement with "Praying" featuring Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello, Julia Michaels, and Andra Day, to Logic's heartfelt rendition of "1-800-273-8255" with Khalid and Best New Artist winner Alessia Cara, the performance segments of the 60th GRAMMYs had something on tap to sate every just about every musical taste.

Find out which artists' sets prompted the most viewers to take to their smartphones and dig deeper to discover more about the tunes they most enjoyed from Music's Biggest Night, with this exclusive list of the GRAMMYs' 10 most Shazam'd performances, courtesy of our friends at Shazam.

Also be sure to check out our poll below, and call out your favorite performance from the 60th GRAMMYs.

10. "Pray," Sam Smith

9. "XXX., DNA., King's Dead Medley," Kendrick Lamar

 

 

8. "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken," P!nk

7. "Praying," Kesha, Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello, Julia Michaels, Andra Day

 

 

6. "Get Out Of Your Own Way," U2

5. "Tears In Heaven," Maren Morris, Eric Church, Brothers Osborne

4. "Better Man," Little Big Town

3. "1-800-273-8255," Logic, Alessia Cara, Khalid

2. "Don't Make Me Wait," Sting, Shaggy

 

 

1. "Terrified," Childish Gambino

 

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Which Of The Top-Shazam'd Performances From The 60th GRAMMYs Did You Enjoy The Most?

 

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Lil Wayne photographed in 2008

Lil Wayne

Photo: Jamie McCarthy/WireImage.com

Feature
10 Years Later: Lil Wayne's 'Tha Carter III' lollipop-milli-lil-waynes-tha-carter-iii-10-years-after

"Lollipop" To "A Milli": Lil Wayne's 'Tha Carter III' 10 Years After

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Look back at how Weezy's sixth studio "event" changed the game and inadvertently became his magnum opus
Kathy Iandoli
GRAMMYs
Jun 6, 2018 - 3:13 pm

Few hip-hop albums are referred to as an "event" rather than a "release." However, on June 10, 2008, Lil Wayne created an event with the third installment of his Carter album series, the aptly titled Tha Carter III.

Lil Wayne Wins Best Rap Album

Before delving into this project, it's important to reflect upon two years prior. At the close of 2005, Wayne dropped Tha Carter II, an album that true Weezy aficionados regard as one of his most potent works, though the buck stops there. By the time the calendar turned to 2006, Wayne's fifth album flew under the mainstream rap radar, as other projects from budding acts took precedent, including the Game's Doctor's Advocate, Rick Ross' Port Of Miami, T.I.'s King, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, and Nas' declaration heard 'round the world, Hip Hop Is Dead.

"I feel like in 2006, every great artist — save for Eminem and Dr. Dre who were in hiding at the time — made their album," recalls Ambrosia for Heads Editor-In-Chief Jake Paine.

Meanwhile, Wayne dropped Like Father, Like Son, a 2006 collaboration with Birdman, an album described as a cult classic by Complex. In the two-year period between Tha Carter II and Tha Carter III, Wayne was seemingly everywhere.

"Here's Wayne bulldozing through songs — being featured on songs every other week, more song leaks, mixtapes — there was a flood of Wayne music coming out," says Yoh Phillips, DJBooth senior writer. "If you were tuned in, it was a very exciting time because every week there was new music and every song was better than the last."

This period of ambiguity ultimately created what Jay-Z referred to as "Mixtape Weezy," an artist who saw commercial success yet voluntarily spelunked into the underbelly of rap's mixtape scene. Mean and full of lean, Wayne did the opposite of what most rappers did during that period, which was go into hiding into his next major release.

"He was at the top of his game," recalls Young Money/Cash Money Records' Senior Vice President Katina Bynum, who was VP of Marketing at the time. "Every verse he was dropping was different and next level. Just by him being on a song could save a career or break a new artist."

Anticipation was certainly reaching a boiling point for Tha Carter III based on these chess moves.

"He teased us with all of these incredible blows and wordplay and punchlines, so he had to wow us with his next album," Yoh expresses. "I don't think a rapper has done that well of a balance as Lil Wayne during that time. It all helped build the anticipation of what this album was going to sound like."

Then it happened — at a time when summer releases could get lost in the proverbial shuffle — Tha Carter III was unleashed June 10. Before the week's end, projections reported it was already bound for a cool milli in sales.

"I think Nielsen reported the million first week projections very quickly and that was the currency of rap thanks to 50 Cent," Paine explains. "Wayne was completely legitimized in that moment."

The album skyrocketed to No. 1, indeed pushing more than 1 million units in the first week alone — at that time marking the first artist to do so since 50 Cent in 2005. To date, it's certified triple platinum.

At 16 tracks deep, Tha Carter III is lengthy, yet packs enough diversity to solidify any listener as a Lil Wayne fan. Commercial releases like "Lollipop" gave Weezy his most successful single to date, while "A Milli" showcased his unwavering lyrical skill.

"When I heard 'Lollipop' I knew he had created a new lane," adds Bynum. "There was nothing that sounded like it on radio or anywhere else."

"Mrs. Officer" fed the ladies (despite being one of many arguably misogynistic songs on the project), and "Mr. Carter" was an unlikely win due to its collaborators, since no one expected Wayne and Jay to show up together. Then there are songs for the mixtape heroes like "Dr. Carter," where Swizz Beatz lays a boom-bap foundation for Wayne to lay on (rumor has it the beat was originally for Jay-Z).

"It's a David Axelrod loop, and was such a satisfying moment to hear Wayne rap over a DITC-sounding beat and just kill it," Paine says.

Other songs like "Tie My Hands" bring a politically charged Wayne with lines such as "Born right here in the USA/But due to tragedy, looked on by the whole world as a refugee."

Lil Wayne and T-Pain perform at the 2008 BET Awards
Lil Wayne: 10th Anniversary Of 'Tha Carter III'

Of course, what's a Wayne album without braggadocio and loose gang ties? "He's still set trippin', he's still making threats to anonymous adversaries, feeling his own fame," Paine says.

And while it's frequently slept-on beyond live performances, "Phone Home" anchored Wayne's trademark as extraterrestrial. "[Wayne] did an unbelievable freestyle over Jay-Z's 'Show Me What You Got' from [2006's Kingdom Come]" explains Dre of Cool & Dre, who produced "Phone Home." "On it he says, 'We are not the same. I am a martian,' and it always stuck out to me.

"Me and Cool were in the studio and wanted to flip that line. but make a beat that sounds out of this world. We had the whole sound effects, we were beaming him down to Earth. I laid down the hook, 'Phone home, Weezy! Phone home!'"

At the time, Wayne was recording at New York's Hit Factory, and it only took a short while for the hit to be made.

"A few hours later Wayne called him to come down to the studio," Dre continues. "He goes, 'I went to the boogeyman in the closet, Dre. And I came out with this.' We were blown away, and he even kept me on the hook." Per Dre, the heavy use of rock elements on the song led to the concept for Wayne's 2010 Rebirth album.

Strategic collaborations came with the aforementioned Jay-Z, but also T-Pain on "Got Money" (a precursor to the 2017 T-Wayne mixtape) and production from Kanye West, David Banner, Alchemist, and more. While Tha Carter III traveled in many directions, the undeniable focus of Wayne was evident on the work; though its success was also hinged to his omnipresence at the time.

The result was his most commercially received project. He won Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song for "Lollipop" and Best Rap Solo Performance for "A Milli" at the 51st GRAMMY Awards, in addition to scoring a nomination for Album Of The Year.

"We still can't get over not winning Album Of The Year at the GRAMMYs that year," Dre says with a laugh.

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GRAMMYs

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Tha Carter III's impact remains a huge footnote in the history of Weezy F. Baby. So much so that Wayne's Weezyana Fest this year will be dedicated solely to the milestone anniversary of the album, a further testament to its "event" status.

At the end of "Dr. Carter," Wayne smugly declares, "Welcome back, hip-hop, I saved your life," an obvious response to Nas' death claim from two years prior. While it's a large badge to place upon his chest, Wayne did save hip-hop in a sense. From itself.

"Wayne completely changed the game," Bynum says. "He's an original, a classic and there will be no one like him ... period."

(Kathy Iandoli has penned pieces for Pitchfork, VICE, Maxim, O, Cosmopolitan, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and more. She co-authored the book Commissary Kitchen with Mobb Deep's late Albert "Prodigy" Johnson, and is a professor of music business at select universities throughout New York and New Jersey.)

How The 50 Cent, Kanye West "Beef" Of 2007 Was A Hard Reset For Hip-Hop

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