Queen Latifah, Public Enemy, And More Perform At A Grammy Salute To Hip-Hop

The Recording Academy teamed up with CBS for A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop, which aired Sunday night and is now available to stream on Paramount+.

The special, filmed at Inglewood’s YouTube Theater on November 8, featured Queen Latifah, Common, Public Enemy, Rakim, Doug E. Fresh, MC Lyte, Rick Ross, Jeezy, Jermaine Dupri, YG, Too Short, E-40, De La Soul, Akon, Black Thought, Nelly, Gunna, Chance the Rapper, and more.

Questlove, legendary drummer for The Roots, introduced Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff’s reunion. “In a year and a night full of hip-hop moments, this is a big one,” said Questlove. “I grew up idolizing these two from my hometown of Illadelpho. They were the first artist to ever receive a Grammy award for hip-hop. Back then, they weren’t invited to perform or accept their award on camera, which led to the hip-hop community sitting things out that year. But thankfully, a year later, their hip-hop invitation did show up and they did become the first hip-hop group to ever perform at the Grammy Awards. And tonight, as a fan, as a friend, from way back in Philly, let’s welcome to the Grammy stage, the incomparable, the amazing, the legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince!”

Queen Latifah, who showed up a number of times during the show, joined Monie Love for their 1989 single “Ladies First.” Other songs featured included Sha-Rock’s verse from Funky 4+1’s “That’s the Joint,” J.J. Fad’s “Supersonic,” Roxanne Shante’s “Roxanne’s Revenge” and MC Lyte’s “Cha Cha Cha.”

Remy Ma performed “All the Way Up,” and Latto offered up “Put It on Da Floor.” Every rapper featured in this section—which highlighted the history of women in rap—united to perform Latifah’s “U.N.I.T.Y.”

Jermaine Dupri curated an ode to Southern rap, which featured Jeezy, T.I., and Three 6 Mafia. UGK’s Bun B shouted out the late Pimp C during “Int’l Players Anthem.” GloRilla and Boosie Badazz also joined in on the fun before 2 Live Crew’s Uncle Luke closed the scene with “Scarred” and “I Wanna Rock.”

Public Enemy had an introduction from the event’s host, LL Cool J. The band was joined by Questlove on the turntables for some of their generational-defining songs, including “Fight the Power,” “Bring the Noise,” and “Don’t Believe the Hype.”

The group also recently celebrated the 35th anniversary of their seminal sophomore offering, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, with a very special new vinyl edition that dropped in November.

 Buy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (35th Anniversary).