How Questlove Pulled Off the Grammys’ Crowd-Pleasing Hip-Hop Tribute
Subject
Hip-Hop; Grammys; Questlove
Description
The Roots drummer and D.J. was tapped by the Recording Academy to fit 50 years of rap history into 15 minutes. For once, the awards show gave the genre a fitting spotlight.
Will Smith, once known as the Fresh Prince, couldn’t make it. Lil Wayne and Future dropped out at the last minute. Countless other rap luminaries were never even invited, owing to inevitable time and scheduling constraints. Yet with a climactic, decade-spanning, region-representing, 15-minute medley on Sunday night, the Grammys managed to do something that had proved a struggle for the show since 1989: It pleased hip-hop fans.
Putting Grandmaster Flash next to GloRilla, LL Cool J alongside a TikTok-dancing Lil Uzi Vert, and DJ Drama on the same stage as Flavor Flav, the producers of the show celebrated the forthcoming 50th anniversary of the first hip-hop party with a fittingly sprawling and unwieldy tribute that mixed deep cuts with pop smashes and recognizable icons with overlooked innovators.
“It was a lot of mountains to move to make this happen,” said Questlove, the drummer of the Roots and a go-to rap ambassador for mainstream America, in an interview a few days before the show.
Tapped around Christmas by the Grammys as a curator, D.J. and connector for the centerpiece segment, Questlove, 52, a superfan above all else, knew more than most the deep resentment that many hip-hop legends feel toward the Grammys, after years of perceived disrespect.
Creator
Source
Publisher
www.nytimes.com
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