Over two months after rescheduling due to a COVID-19 postponement, the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards took place on Sunday (April 3) at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Like every year, hip-hop mainstays add to their illustrious legacies, and burgeoning talents cement themselves as mainstream attractions.
Before the awards began, several winners were announced that would not be honored during the show, which included a number of hip-hop categories. Of supreme importance, the victor of the highly-anticipated Rap Album of the Year Grammy was Tyler, The Creator for his Call Me If You Get Lost album, as he became the fifth artist to win the award more than once. Tyler also took him RAOTY honors for his 2019 experimental classic IGOR in 2020 — marking back-to-back wins for The Creator’s last two projects.
Next, Kanye West added to his staggering Grammy collection, making his total 24 by winning the Best Melodic Rap Performance Grammy with “Hurricane,” giving The Weeknd his first Grammy since boycotting the show and giving Lil Baby his first Grammy, as well as Best Rap Song with “Jail (feat. JAY-Z),” even after being removed as a performer from the show.
The show opened with a bang, as newly formed duo Silk Sonic, consisting of Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars took the stage to perform their 2021 album’s fiery seventh song “777.”
Soon after, the same project’s promotional, sensual single “Leave The Door Open” took home the Grammys for Song of the Year, Best R&B Song, Best R&B Performance after tying with Jazmine Sullivan, as well as Record of the Year, exemplifying the song’s dominance throughout the year with a clean sweep.
Then, Lil Nas X likely put on the most signature performance of the whole show, playing a medley of songs from his recent debut album Montero with “Dead Right Now,” “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” and “Industry Baby,” joined by Jack Harlow on stage.
Transitioning from Lil Nas X to his elder namesake Nas, who was a nominee for Rap Album of the Year, took the stage to perform some of his early 2000s classic like “I Can,” “Made You Look” and “One Mic.”
Eventually, the show made its way to the final award in the hip-hop category, where Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar took home the Grammy for Best Rap Performance with their collaborative track “Family Ties.”
Before the last few awards were announced, Justin Bieber and his squad of GIVĒON and Daniel Caesar it the stage to perform their summer hit “Peaches,” which was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Music Video and Best R&B Performance.
R&B star SZA and pop-rap phenom Doja Cat were each able to simultaneously clinch their first Grammy award before the end of the night by winning Best Pop Duo Performance with “Kiss Me More,” which received three nominations in total.
Overall, it seems the Grammy Awards did a solid job of recognizing all the R&B and hip-hop artists that dominated this past music cycle.
Check below for the full list of the nominees and more OGM coverage of the 64th Annual Grammy Awards!
