Watch the Grammys’ celebration of 50 years of hip-hop
(Credit: Wikimedia/Joe Mabel)

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Watch the Grammys’ celebration of 50 years of hip-hop

The Grammys took place last night (Friday 5th) and featured a star-studded celebration of hip-hop for the 50th anniversary of the genre. The scenes took place just after Dr. Dre was awarded with the Global Impact Award, which was subsequently renamed the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award.

Discussing his honour, Dre said, “I’m extremely moved by this award. I want to say thank you to the Recording Academy and the Black Music Collective for this honour. I know everybody in here probably knows this already, but this is the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Where would I be without out? Where would a lot of people be without hip-hop?”

He continued, “Hip-hop became a lifeline for me growing up as a teenager in Compton and it started with a song called ‘The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel’. Scratching and mixing on the turntables had me hooked and became the entry point to a 40-year career of doing something that I really love.”

Following Dre’s speech, The Roots and Questlove made for the stage and brought along some of hip-hop’s most prominent names for the ride, with a medley of the genre’s most famous most famous tracks were played, including Run DMC’s ‘King Of Rock’, LL Cool J’s ‘Rock The Bells’, Queen Latifah’s ‘U.N.I.T.Y.’ and Missy Elliott’s ‘Lose Control’.

Also at the Grammys, Beyonce was awarded with the distinction of being the most decorated artist in the history of the ceremony, taking the classical musician Georg Solti’s previous standing record of 31 awards. Bad Bunny had the privilege of opening the show, and played two songs off the Un Verano Sin Ti album, before Quavo from Migos’ paid tribute to his former bandmate and nephew Takeoff during the ‘In Memoriam’ segment of the show. Check out some of the best footage from the evening below.