This year, the Grammys conducted a tribe to Hip-Hop in celebration of its 50th anniversary. One major name in hip-hop has recently shared that he chose to not be a part of the celebrations. Rap legend, KRS-1, has opened up about his decision to decline the invitation.
“I was asked about two months ago; they asked me to do it and I turned them down,” he explained. “With all due respect, LL COOL J himself called me, spoke to my wife and pretty much begged for me to be on the show but we turned him down. And reason being is because I know people don’t understand this — and I say this respectfully. KRS-1 is a Hip-Hop extremist. I’m not violent, a violent extremist. I’m insane with this culture. I know I must have lost my mind in this.”
He also explained that one of his biggest reasosn was the exploitation oh hip-hop.
“I don’t fight it, I don’t apologize for it. I recognize that my experience in this thing called Hip-Hop is different from mostly everybody else’s experience with Hip-Hop… I restrict myself in a certain way, because I know who I am in this culture,” he shared. “You’re in the temple of Hip Hop, this is our home. This place, this institution can never side with, come under, understand the exploitation of our culture. Never will you ever see me standing in the environment where our culture is being exploited.”
He continued to express that the Grammys never cared much for hip-hop until its 50th anniversary.
“So when I got the call, I immediately said nah,” KRS-1 explained. “First of all, it’s the Grammys? You get no respect here. None. Now we respect your existence, we know you exist. And we know that you’re the Grammys and we understand that and we respect that. But you ignored Hip Hop for 49 years. At the 50th year, you wanna call us? You couldn’t even call on 47 and gear it up to 50. You wait to the 50th year to call Hip Hop’s authentic teacha? Nah, you don’t get that privilege.”