It’s that time of the year to celebrate the greatest in music and see some great hip-hop Grammy performances … or some lackluster ones. (Sorry, Nicki we’re still confused about last year’s producion.) With Wiz Khalifa being this year’s hip-hop performer, we put together the best hip-hop performances on the Grammys over the last 20 years.
T.I. Feat. Jay-Z, Kanye West M.I.A., Lil Wayne
Year: 2009
Okay, not the greatest performance ever but what made this worth watching was T.I. was able to gather all the features on the track for the Grammys (they never shot a video for this song) which rarely happens on hip hop posse cuts at awards shows. There is always that one feature missing, but T.I. pulled it off with this one.
Drake Feat. Eminem, Lil Wayne & Travis Barker
Year: 2010
The crowd went crazy for Em when he touched that stage — that should let you know the power of his presence. Wayne and Drake brought their A game too.
Ludacris Featuring Mary J. Blige and Earth, Wind, & Fire
Year: 2007
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One of Luda’s better songs to date, but adding legendary group Earth Wind & Fire took the performance over the top.
Jay-Z featuring Linkin Park, Paul McCartney
Year: 2006
Jay-Z once famously banned the Grammys for not showing the hip-hop segment on live TV, but when he did decide to show up to the award show he brought all the A-listers out.
Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx
Year: 2006
Fresh off “Ray” and Kanye looking to win his first Grammy, they pull out all the stops with the battle of the bands.
Eminem & The Roots
Year: 2004
The Jimmy Fallon Tonight band backed Eminem in 2004 during his dismal hip-hop years. What made the performance memorable for hip-hop and rap fanatics was Em donning the “Free Tony Yayo” tee.
The Fugees
Year: 1997
“No Woman No Cry” is not considered a hip-hop song in the traditional sense, but it gets no more hip-hop than The Fugees.
Eminem & Elton John
Year: 2001
This is the performance that broke him into the mainstream. At the time Em was receiving a lot of flack for his “Marshall Mathers LP” due to use of gay slur words on the album. Em fired back during his Grammy performance when he featured openly gay singer, Elton John, on “Stan.” This was one of Eminem’s best performances ever.
Run-DMC
Year: 1988
Hip-hop still being a new genre at the time Run-DMC were given the opportunity to perform “Tougher Than Leather“. Even though Run-DMC brought the energy, the crowd looks less than interested. This was still a big moment for hip hop.
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