Special to air Sunday, Dec. 10 on CBS
By AFRO Staff
The Recording Academy is amassing a bevy of hip-hop heavyweights to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop on Nov. 8 at the 6,000-seat YouTube Theater in Inglewood, Calif.
The live concert, “A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop,” will spotlight and celebrate the deep history of the genre, its evolution, colossal global impact and influence on culture.
“Now, 50 years later, there’s not a single genre of music that hasn’t absorbed something essential from hip-hop,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said in a speech in early September during a celebration of hip-hop event at Vice President Kamala Harris’ Washington, D.C. home.
“Hip-hop is the ultimate American art form,” Harris said at the same event. “Hip-hop now shapes nearly every aspect of America’s popular culture. And it reflects the incredible diversity and ingenuity of the American people.
“Hip-hop culture is America’s culture,” she continued. “It is a genre. It is music, melody and rhyme. And hip-hop is also an ethos of strength and self-determination, of ambition and aspiration, of pride, power, and purpose.”
For its Nov. 8 concert, the Academy promises a star-studded lineup of hip-hop legends and Grammy-winning artists including, Black Thought, Bun B, Common, De La Soul, Jermaine Dupri, J.J. Fad, Talib Kweli, The Lady Of Rage, LL COOL J, MC Sha-Rock, Monie Love, The Pharcyde, Queen Latifah, Questlove, Rakim, Remy Ma, Uncle Luke, Yo-Yo, and many more performers to be announced in the coming weeks.
The tribute concert is being produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment. Jesse Collins, Shawn Gee, Dionne Harmon, Claudine Joseph, LL COOL J, Fatima Robinson, Jeannae Rouzan-Clay and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for Two One Five Entertainment serve as executive producers and Marcelo Gama as director of the special.
The CBS network will air the event on Dec. 10, 8:30 – 10:30 p.m. ET/PT. The musical event also will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
The Recording Academy represents the voices of performers, songwriters, producers, engineers and all music professionals. For more information about the event, the Grammy Awards and the Recording Academy, please visit www.grammy.com and www.recordingacademy.com.