Hip Hop was heavily in attendance at last nights 51st Annual Grammy
Awards Show with performances by a number of Hip Hop heavyweights
including Lil Wayne [click to read], Kanye West, Jay-Z [click to read], and T.I. [click to read].
Although Hip Hop was quite present performance-wise the major two
awards for the night, Record Of The Year and Album Of The Year, were
both awarded to Country/Rock artists.
Record Of The Year was
awarded to “Please Read The Letter” by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
and Album Of The Year was awarded to Raising Sand by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss beating out Hip Hop acts M.I.A. and Lil Wayne.
Both Lil Wayne and M.I.A. performed alongside T.I., Jay-Z, and Kanye
West for one of the nights most anticipated performances. Dubbed the
“Rap Pack” by Queen Latifah [click to read], the four rappers performed “Swagga Like
Us” [click to listen] alongside a pregnant M.I.A.
Several Hip Hop performers pulled double duty, partaking in more
than one Grammy performance. Aside from the “Swagga Like Us”
performance Jay-Z performed with Coldplay, Kanye West performed
“American Boy” [click to listen] with Estelle, Lil Wayne performed with Robin Thicke [click to read], and
T.I. performed alongside Justin Timberlake.
With a total of four Grammy Awards, Lil Wayne was the Hip Hop
artist to win the most Grammy’s, awarded to
him for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Solo Performance, and
Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group for “Swagga Like Us”.
Best Rap/Song Collaboration was the only rap category Lil Wayne
didn’t win a Grammy for. Instead, the Grammy was awarded to Estelle and
Kanye West for “American Boy”.
Other noteworthy winners included
Alicia Keys for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Ne-Yo [click to read] for Best
Male R&B Vocal Performance, and Jennifer Hudson for Best R&B
Album.
