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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Entertainment
Jonah Valdez

Hip-hop’s greats unite to salute the genre’s 50th anniversary at 2023 Grammys

LOS ANGELES — Once shunned by the Recording Academy, the 2023 Grammy Awards paid homage to 50 years of hip-hop history on Sunday with performances by influential artists from the genre’s past, present and future.

LL Cool J, who in 1989 boycotted the awards show along with other high-profile rappers when the Recording Academy didn’t televise its first rap award, led Sunday’s night all-star salute.

Hip-hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Melle Mel and Rahiem of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five burst onto the stage with a punchy snippet of their 1982 single “The Message.”

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