With hip-hop dominating nominations for the 60th Grammys, all eyes will be on how the ceremony will showcase a genre that has historically been underrepresented. This year Jay-Z leads with eight nominations, followed by seven for Kendrick Lamar, and both emcees are front-runners for album of the year and landed in either record or song of the year.
It’s a rare feat for hip-hop acts. And while one of the night’s highlight performances will surely come from Lamar (he’s set to open the show with an explosive medley), the night’s leading man, Jay-Z, declined to perform anything from his incredibly personal “4:44,” show producers confirmed during rehearsals last week.
Cardi B, left, and Hennessy Carolina arrive at the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP / Angela Weiss / AFP / Getty Images)
Mick Fleetwood and Lynn Frankel arrive for the 60th Grammy Awards in New York.
(Angela Weiss / AFP / Getty Images)
Sting and Shaggy arrive for the 60th Grammy Awards on January 28, 2018, in New York.
(Angela Weiss / AFP / Getty Images)
India Arie arrives for the 60th Grammy Awards on January 28, 2018, in New York.
(Angela Weiss / AFP / Getty Images)
Kesha arrives for the 60th Grammy Awards on January 28, 2018, in New York.
(Angela Weiss / AFP / Getty Images)
Recording artist Janelle Monae attends the 60th Annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2018 in New York City.
(Angela Weiss / Jamie McCarthy / Jewel Samad / Getty Images)
SZA arrives at the 60th annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, in New York.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)
Hailee Steinfeld at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in New York.
(Jason Szenes / Shutterstock )
Miley Cyrus holds a white rose, a symbol of support for the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, as she arrives at the 60th Grammy Awards in New York.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)
Katie Holmes arrives for the 60th Grammy Awards in New York.
(Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images )
Recording artist Tyler, the Creator attends the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on in New York.
(Christopher Polk / Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images for NARAS)
Recording artist Joy Villa displayed her stance as an abortion opponent as she arrives at the 60th Grammy Awards in New York.
( Evan Agostini / Getty Images)
Rapsody arrives for the 60th Grammy Awards in New York.
(Jewel Samad / Angela Weiss / AFP / Getty Images)
Recording artist Nick Jonas attends the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York.
(Jamie McCarthy / Christopher Polk / Getty Images)
Jenny McCarthy arrives for the 60th Grammy Awards in New York.
(Angela Weiss / AFP / Getty Images)
Sam Smith arrives at the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)
Jaden Smith arrives for the 60th Grammy Awards in New York
(Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images)
Recording artist Bebe Rexha attends the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York.
( Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images)
Ryan Seacrest arrives for the 60th Grammy Awards in New York.
(Angela Weiss / AFP / Getty Images)
Eve attends the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 28, 2018, in New York.
(John Shearer / Getty Images / Dimitrios Kambouris )
Lady Gaga attends the 60th Annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2018 in New York City.
(Christopher Polk / Getty Images for NARAS)
Tony Bennett attends the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York.
( Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images)
Lisa Loeb arrives at the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York.
( Evan Agostini / Invision / AP / Getty Images for NARAS / Jewel Samad / Getty Images)
Kristin Cavallari arrives at the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)
Zachary Scott Carothers, from left, John Gourley, Eric Howk, Zoe Manville, Jason Wade Sechrist and Kyle O’Quin of Portugal. The Man arrive at the 60th annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, in New York.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / AP)
Actress Taylor Spreitler arrives for the 60th Grammy Awards pre-telecast in New York.
(Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images)
Recording artist Maren Morris attends the 60th Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York.
(Evan Agostini /Invision / AP / Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images )
Brad Goreski arrives for the 60th Grammy Awards in New York.
(AFP / Getty Images / Szenes / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock)“We’ve been kind of quiet about that,” said Ken Ehrlich, the telecast’s longtime executive producer. “We had a conversation that we thought was going to lead to a performance and really only two weeks ago he basically said he’d rather not. He wanted to come and enjoy the show. And I understand. This is not a man who has been under-tributed. His life has been full of these moments; he’s given us a couple great ones too. But still, there was that conversation of, ‘Are you sure?’”
Weeks before Sunday’s ceremony there were chats of a blowout performance that would trace rap’s origins in New York starting with the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” and bowing with Jay’s Grammy-winning “Empire State of Mind,” according to a source close to production.
Although the rapper has been a major fixture at the Grammys (he’s won 21 over his storied career), he’s been vocal about his feelings about hip-hop’s position with the Recording Academy — even protesting the ceremony by declining to attend for a number of years. He used a chunk of his speech at Saturday’s pre-Grammy gala, where he was given the Industry Icon award, to reflect on his relationship with the awards.
“I [remember being] nominated for some awards but there was this other guy, DMX, who put out two albums that year and wasn’t nominated — and I actually boycotted. I didn’t come back from 1998 to 2004 when a beautiful young lady, whom I love dearly, had a breakout album [that was] nominated,” he said, nodding toward his wife Beyoncé’s sweep at the 2004 ceremony.
“I realized that art is super-subjective. The academy, they are human like we are and they are voting on things they like. And we can pretend we don’t care, but we do. We really care because we are seeing the most incredible artists stand on that stage and we aspire to be that — and so I was like, ‘I have to be there.’ And that’s the idea for all of us to come together to push this thing further. Now what happens at the Grammys, it is what it is.”
MORE: The age of hip-hop — from the streets to cultural dominance, a special series
For more music news follow me on Twitter:@GerrickKennedy
ALSO
The Grammys’ hip-hop game changers Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z: An East Coast-West Coast contest
How Compton’s Rosecrans Avenue became L.A. hip-hop’s Main Street
The rise of XXXTentacion underscores rap’s fraught battle with the law
