The 2023 GRAMMY Awards featured an exciting tribute performance celebrating Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary, but not everyone was pleased with what transpired. Willie D of the Geto Boys took issue with the fact that Scarface was the only member of the group asked to perform.
“A reminder to the Grammys and all the rest of y’all out there trying to hustle the Geto Boys brand by only including Scarface, who had a stellar solo career,” the 56-year-old said in an Instagram video on Sunday (Feb. 5). “How in the hell are you gonna have a 50-year tribute to Hip Hop and not include Geto Boys the group?”
“If you forgot, the group includes Scarface and Willie D,” he continued. Bushwick Bill was also one of the original members, but he passed away in June 2019 due to cancer. “How you gonna use a performance that includes a song that I co-wrote but not even have the decency, the respect to reach out to me and ask me if I wanted to participate? Y’all are some clowns for that. All the way out of pocket. Whoever made the call, y’all some clowns… No more talking.”
The tribute performance featured stars across many decades, namely Black Thought and The Roots, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, Public Enemy, Missy Elliott, Lil Baby, GloRilla, Lil Uzi Vert, and more.
Hip-Hop also laid claim to the night’s ending, as DJ Khaled, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and Fridayy delivered an outdoor performance of their eight-minute collaboration of “God Did” outside of the Crypto.com Arena. Hov performed the entirety of his much-discussed four-minute verse and had determined ahead of the show that it was the right thing to do for the culture.
“For the culture and for Hip-Hop, we got to do that,” the Brooklyn rapper told TIDAL’s Elliott Wilson. “We owe that. This thing that changed our lives. We got to do that. A four-minute verse performed at the Grammys. We owe it to the culture, and it ain’t even a burden. It’s a blessing. It’s easy and fun.”