As hip-hop commemorates five decades of shaping culture, music and history, the Grammy Recording Academy is set to culminate this milestone year with a two-hour concert special, “A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop,” which is set to air at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10 on CBS and will stream on demand on Paramount+. The star-studded concert event was filmed at YouTube Theater in Inglewood on Nov. 8.
“To think it’s already been 50 years within the evolution of hip-hop is astounding to me. There was no better time to honor the genre that’s birthed so much of our culture than right now,” Harvey Mason Jr., the Record Academy CEO, said during a recent phone call. “And we have to acknowledge hip-hop is the driving force in our industry. It’s some of the most consumed and creative music of any genre. So this program is long overdue.”
The special comes as a follow-up to the 65th Annual Grammy Awards show held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles back in February. During that event, a monumental 15-minute medley curated by The Roots’ anchor Questlove featured a fusion of iconic figures such as Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Rakim, Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Nelly, Too Short, Run-DMC and Salt-N-Pepa. The assembly was accompanied by the newer class of artists like Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, Future and others, creating a blend of hip-hop’s past and present.
As the anticipation for the televised “A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop” grew, so did the challenge for Mason when it came to putting together a heavyweight lineup. Curating it became extremely delicate as Mason and his team took months to carefully select around 40 artists. The goal was to choose key players that would seamlessly weave together the rich tapestry of hip-hop’s diverse legacy.
The result is an ensemble that pays homage to the genre’s past, but also celebrates the present and future on a grand stage.
“At the end of the day, the whole goal of this program is…
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