Hip-hop turns 50 this year. (Yeah, hiphop’s a middle-aged Gen Xer.) And to celebrate the milestone, the Grammys enlisted Questlove. Boy did he come thru! Questlove put together a ridiculous line-up, including LL Cool J, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, and Big Boi.
Playlist
Here’s an Apple Music playlist with all of the songs the show featured. It uses clean versions where possible but still might be a little salty for younger ears. Remember trying to peel of those parental advisory stickers so your parents wouldn’t take the tapes away? Well, it’s up to you now. Check out the full playlist below.
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/hip-hop-50/pl.u-zPyL1ZPuxaPr05
Live show
And here’s a behind-the-scenes amateur shoot of the event. Better watch it before it gets pulled down!
Hip-hop 50th anniversary setlist
Grandmaster Flash, “Flash to the Beat”
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five featuring Melle Mel, “The Message”
Run-DMC, “King of Rock”
LL Cool J, “Rock the Bells”
Salt-N-Pepa, “My Mic Sounds Nice”
Eric B. & Rakim, “Eric B Is President”
Public Enemy, “Rebel Without a Pause”
De La Soul, “Buddy” (reissuing on 3/3/23!)
Geto Boys, “My Mind’s Playing Tricks on Me”
Ice-T, “New Jack Hustler”
Queen Latifah, “U.N.I.T.Y.”
Wu-Tang Clan, “Method Man” (included a clean version without the infamous torture skit.)
Outkast, “ATLiens”
Busta Rhymes, “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”
Missy Elliott, “Lose Control”
Nelly, “Hot in Herre”
Too Short, “Blow the Whistle”
Jadakiss feat. Styles of the Lox, “We Gonna Make It”
Lil Baby, “Freestyle”
GloRilla, “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)”
Lil Uzi Vert, “Just Wanna Rock”