Ice-T was one of the many beloved rappers to blaze the 2023 GRAMMYs stage during its Hip-Hop 50th anniversary tribute performance. The 64-year-old has now revealed that he was initially hesitant to make the trip and be part of the momentous occasion.
“Questlove calls me up and he says, ‘All right, you gotta come to L.A. this weekend… It’s a big performance, I got you in the lineup,'” the Law & Order star told ET. “And I was still hesitant ’cause it’s a long travel, but then he says, ‘You don’t want to be sitting at home watching this show, saying you should’ve been there. I was invited but I didn’t show up.’ And [so] I got my Black a** on a plane.”
Upon making his way to Los Angeles, the father of three was happy to see so many of his peers gathered in one place for something positive, previously stating how they usually only come together for funerals. Beyond that, he was proud to see the GRAMMYs give such a platform to rap during the Sunday (Feb. 5) show.
“So the GRAMMYs brought us together and it’s so crazy that for a while, rap wasn’t even represented at the GRAMMYs. I got one of the early GRAMMYs with Quincy Jones, you know, but I felt Quincy kinda snuck us in the backdoor.”
“And now, tonight, you’re gonna be amazed at the performance,” he continued, later getting into the perception of certain rappers invited to the grand spectacle. “They got everybody, they got all the hoodlums in here. We don’t get invited to this type of party! […] You see Dr. Dre doing the Super Bowl with 50 Cent, Eminem, all the outlaws. That means that the culture has really broadened to where the people in power are our children.”
The Hip-Hop tribute performance was a major highlight, featuring acts such as Black Thought, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Run-DMC, Rakim, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, The Lox, Missy Elliott, Lil Baby, GloRilla, Lil Uzi Vert, and many more.
Hip-Hop also had the honor of closing out the evening as DJ Khaled, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, John Legend, and Fridayy delivered a pre-recorded performance of “God Did” outside of Crypto.com Arena. It was especially notable as Hov performed the entirety of his four-minute verse of the eight-minute record.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7t7XBnmWcp51ku6bD0micp6yVp8Gitc2mnKesX56wpnnTZp%2Beq5mprq%2FAjKCpmqWdrsButMipZKGnoGLBs7XBrqueZWFngHWDkmxraW5f