In a year when hip-hop was expected to dominate the Grammy Awards, a veteran of the genre shook up the ceremony’s afternoon pre-telecast with a blistering heavy metal performance.

For the rendition of “Black Hoodie,” Ice-T reverted to his antagonistic roots in Body Count, one of L.A.’s formative and most progressive metal bands, taunting police with a song that was nominated for best metal performance. 

The churning, urgent original was an unexpected high point in the genre at the Grammys, where rock and roll is still fighting for relevance in a dominant year for hip-hop. Yet “Black Hoodie” zeroed in on police brutality and vulnerability as well as any punk song.

The L.A. connection is strong in the winner of the Grammy Award for album notes.

It was awarded to veteran music writer, and former Times staff writer, Lynell George, for her notes for the box set “Otis Redding Live at the Whisky A Go Go: The Complete Recordings,” documenting the  soul singer’s incendiary performances at the West Hollywood nightclub in 1966.

“For me the best part of this award is that it honors both Otis' dream and his memory,” George told The Times after her win was announced. “L.A. was an integral spot on his path, it represented the next rung of fame -- going from star to superstar. Those Whisky shows proved that he was more than ready.”

With awards season unfolding amid political turmoil and calls for social change, Hollywood has been grappling with how to celebrate its glitzy industries while acknowledging the issues dominating a 24/7 news cycle.

After a Golden Globes ceremony that was defined by actresses coming together against sexual misconduct with Time’s Up,, many have wondered how the music industry – still largely untouched by the recent reckoning in Hollywood, politics and the media — will  address what’s going on in the world.

When asked about the potential for artist demonstrations, Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said that the night is all about freedom of expression and that performers or presenters are encouraged to use their platform how they see fit.

“It’s the artists, really, at the end of the day who make the statements. The academy as an institution, while we don’t necessarily take lots of [political] positions, the most important thing we can do is support the artist community to have the right to say what they want to say,” Portnow said on a break from rehearsals.

Kendrick Lamar, who is nominated for seven Grammys for work from his album “Damn,” is having a good day, which might make being humble a difficult task. 

A few hours before the televised ceremony is set to begin, Lamar has already won three trophies for his song “Humble”: music video, rap performance and rap song. 

Which means the Compton rapper is three-for-three. The remaining four categories in which he’s nominated, album of the year, record of the year, rap album and rap/sung performance, will be broadcast during the main ceremony.

The late Leonard Cohen, who died in 2016 at 82, won a rock album Grammy for his swan song, “You Want It Darker.”

Produced by his son Adam, the grim, restrained album by the longtime Angeleno won out over Chris Cornell’s “The Promise,” “Run” by Foo Fighters, “No Good” by Kaleo and Nothing More’s “Go to War.” 

In the rock category, the Philadelphia rock band the War on Drugs earned its first Grammy Award for its album, “A Deeper Understanding.” Also nominated were Mastodon, Metallica, Nothing More and Queens of the Stone Age.
 

Sad songs or introspective songs or songs about emotionally complicated things? I just love that. I didn't like anybody more than Elliott Smith, and that was some dark stuff.

The Los Angeles songwriter and film composer Randy Newman won his seventh Grammy on Sunday for arranging the vocals and instruments of his biting satire, “Putin.” The musician, best known for “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” and “I Love L.A.,” went topical in 2017 on his “Dark Matter.” 

In the winning song, Newman puts the Russian leader on such a pedestal that one might be mistaken for thinking it’s written from the perspective of President Trump: 

He can drive his giant tractor
Across the Trans-Siberian plain
He can power a nuclear reactor
With the left side of his brain
And when he takes his shirt off
He drives the ladies crazy
When he takes his shirt off
Makes me wanna be a lady
 

The late-breaking announcement of the white rose movement shook up the debate preceding the Grammys. Supporters will wear flowers to protest harassment and inequality in the music business,

Halsey, Fergie and Kelly Clarkson are among the stars signed on to support it. But Kesha’s performance of “Praying” might be the actual protest of the night.

The singer, who saw her career stalled for years after going public with allegations of abuse against her mentor, superstar producer Dr. Luke, returned in 2017 with a No. 1 album in “Rainbow.”

Hundreds of music industry stars and professionals have signed a letter released by music business advocates Voices of Entertainment pledging to wear white roses to tonight's awards in support of "workplaces free of sexual harassment."

Inspired by the sea of black at this year’s Golden Globes, the #whiterose initiative is meant to add “a heightened awareness of accountability that our sisters started on January 1st and continued through the Golden Globes and onward,” according to the letter. 

Musicians including Pink, Cyndi Lauper, Slick Rick, Lil Uzi Vert, Zayn Malik, Meghan Trainor, Fat Joe, Fergie, Remy Ma, India.Arie, Carly Rae Jepson, Khalid, Kelly Clarkson, Halsey, Dua Lipa, and Rita Ora signed the official letter of support.

Those who may have assumed that Recording Academy members would be tired of “La La Land” at this point were wrong: the film, about living the Hollywood dream, earned two early Grammy Awards at Sunday’s ceremony.

In the category for score/soundtrack for visual media, the score’s composer, Justin Hurwitz, won out over the composers for “Dunkirk,” “Game of Thrones, Season 7,” “Hidden Figures” and “Arrival.”

Additionally, “La La Land” compilation producers Hurwitz and Marius de Vries won the compilation soundtrack award over fellow contenders “Baby Driver,” “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2,” “Hidden Figures: The Album” and “Moana: The Songs.”