Lil Wayne, Common and more play Kamala Harris’ hip-hop anniversary gig

11 September, 2023

Kamala Harris

US Vice President Kamala Harris held a hip-hop 50th anniversary gig at her residence in Washington DC this weekend, featuring Lil Wayne, Common and more.

The gig – dubbed ’50 Years Of Hip-Hop’ – was co-sponsored by the Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective and Live Nation Urban.

During an opening speech, Harris called the event the “first-ever hip-hop house party at the Office of the Vice President of the United States,” going on to heap praise on the genre.

“Hip-hop is the ultimate American art form,” she said. “Hip-hop now shapes nearly every aspect of America’s popular culture, and it reflects the incredible diversity and ingenuity of the American people. It combines rhythms from the continent of Africa, from the Caribbean, from Latin America, with the sounds of soul and gospel and R&B and funk to create something entirely new.”

“And to be clear, hip-hop culture is America’s culture. It tells the stories that don’t make the news. But as the great Chuck D once said, rap is Black America’s CNN. And by telling the truth, hip-hop calls us to action.”

See footage from the gig below.

50 years of hip-hop was also celebrated at the 2023 Grammys, on the back of Dr. Dre being recognised with the Global Impact Award, which has now been renamed the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award.

After Dre collected the award, Questlove and The Roots took to the stage, bringing with them some of the biggest stars of hip-hop. The performance featured snippets of numerous iconic songs, from the genre’s early days to now.

Among the performances were Run DMC’s ‘King Of Rock’, LL Cool J’s ‘Rock The Bells’, Queen Latifah’s ‘U.N.I.T.Y.’ and Missy Elliott’s ‘Lose Control’. Representing modern-day hip-hop, Lil Baby delivered a clip of ‘Freestyle’, while GloRilla helped bring things to a wrap with ‘F.N.F. (Let’s Go)’.

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