“The birth of hip-hop completely changed the course of my life. Just imagine where a lot of Black men, including myself, would be without hip-hop,” Dr. Dre questioned, as the audience at the Black Music Collective’s Recording Academy Honors event nodded and murmured in agreement.
Hip-hop, and the genre’s 50th anniversary, was at the center of celebration during the second annual BMC event, held Feb. 2 at the Palladium in Hollywood. The night also paid respect to Black excellence throughout the music industry, with many leading lights in attendance.
“The creation of the BMC is one of the things that I’m most proud of,” said Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason, jr. “Establishing the BMC did more than just boost the number of Black members of the Academy; it did more than help make changes to the awards processes. It provided a platform to give Black music creators a voice, a powerful voice that can tell us the things we needed to hear…a voice to guide us as we expand opportunities and mentor the next generation of artists.”
The BMC honored GRAMMY-winning artists Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott and Lil Wayne, as well as music executive Sylvia Rhone, each of whom was bestowed with the Global Impact Award and lauded for their personal and professional achievements. Each award was presented by the honorees’ close colleagues and friends , followed by a performance by an artist who had worked with or been influenced by the awardee. Busta Rhymes opened the night’s acts, issuing a quick and incredibly nimble set “Baby If You Give it To Me” and “Look at Me Now” before (literally) dropping the mic.
For all the joy present, style on lock and flowers given, the BMC Honors were incredibly humbling — especially for the guests of honor.
“This doesn’t get old to me. I’ve won a lot of awards and feel the same way,” a teary Elliott said upon accepting her award. “It hits different when you stand up here. We’ve been through a lot. I know Dre, Wayne, none of us rolled over into success.”
“It has been an honor putting together such a special event with MVD to commemorate some of the most innovative artists in Black music history, especially as we kick off the celebrations for Black History Month,” Ryan Butler, Recording Academy Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Black Music Collective Staff Advisor said in a release. “ I hope to continue helping give these creative geniuses the spotlight they deserve through our BMC programs.”
Read on to learn more about the Recording Academy Honors presented by the BMC and for six takeaways from the GRAMMY Week event.
The BMC + Recording Academy Rolled Out The Black Carpet
One of the first GRAMMY Week events drew a bevy of stars to the black carpet, including PJ Morton, Robert Glasper, will.i.am, Lil Kim, and Swizz Beatz. And while honorees and big-name musicians looked stunning, the audience of executives, industry professionals and artists in the audience were equally fly.
Sylvia Rhone Is Celebrated As Everyone’s Champion
Busta Rhymes, Sylvia Rhone and Swizz Beatz | Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Sylvia Rhone may have had the biggest impact on the evening’s honorees. A groundbreaking and glass ceiling-shattering woman, Rhone has been CEO of Elektra Entertainment Group and Epic Records — the first Black woman in either role. And while her rise to the c-suite is remarkable, her championing of artists and dedication to their vision is unparalleled. Rhone was thanked profusely by nearly everyone who crossed the Palladium stage.
“She put her job on the line to make sure we could be trailblazers,” Busta said of Rhone, citing her support of expensive and now-iconic music videos. “Every dream I had, I could wake up, come into the office, and Sylvia went balls to the wall to make our dreams come true.” Added Elliott, “she never told me ‘you need to lose weight,’ she never told me to change my records.”
Rhone has shepherded the success of everyone from Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Jason Mraz, Pantera, and Metallica to Lil Wayne, Kelly Rowland, Akon, Kid Cudi, Nicki Minaj and A Tribe Called Quest, Fabolous. At Epic, she oversaw historic releases from Future, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, DJ Khaled and Camila Cabello.
“This is a whole room filled of leaders of hip-hop, and I appreciate more than you could ever know to be recognized with these cultural icons,” Rhone said during her acceptance speech. “But it’s nights like these that keep me revitalized. They serve as a powerful reminder that hip-hop was a calling. As we celebrate its 50th anniversary, it’s gratifying to see how far we actually have come….We have made history. We have changed lives. We are mighty. And we are worldwide.”
Missy Is Moved To Tears
Ciara and Mona Scott-Young | Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
The second honoree of the night, Missy Elliott was introduced by longtime manager Mona Scott-Young and by friend and fellow singer Ciara, who described Elliott as both a legendary artist and human.
Onstage with a manila folder full of notes, an emotional Elliott described how Rhone — who dropped Elliott from a girl group and then signed her as a solo act — “saw something in me that I didn’t see myself.” Rhone “never told us ‘no,'” Elliott reflected, adding that she eventually recorded six albums for Rhone.
“We are in this together, and I hope I can be an inspiration to somebody after me because there’s so many that I know in here that have been an inspiration to me,” Elliott said in closing.
A testament to Elliott’s inspiring nature, Chloe Bailey nodded to the superstar’s production work in a performance of Aaliyah’s “One in a Million” and Elliott’s own “One Minute Man”; Tweet covered “Oops (Oh My)”; and Ciara closed the segment with her Missy collabs “1, 2 Step” and “Lose Control.”
Dr. Dre Receives An Eponymous Impact Award
Dr. Dre | Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
“To tell you the truth, I was a little bit nervous when Harvey called me about this award because I was wondering if he knew something I didn’t. I was thinking to myself that they usually give this type of s— to dead people,” Dre quipped to uproarious laughter as he received the inaugural Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, which was also awarded on the 2023 GRAMMYs telecast. “I’m incredibly honored for my body of work to be recognized in this way.”
Following a video that detailed Dre’s staggering production credits, streams and record sales, the visionary artist was lauded for business acumen and philanthropy, which focuses largely on Compton-area schools. But during a brief speech, Dre explained how it all comes back to music.
“I was in junior high school when I had ever heard hip-hop for the first time,” he reflected, continuing that he “couldn’t get enough of that sound. And once I got my hands on the turntables, I knew I had found my wings and I was determined to know how to fly.”
Dr. Dre has soared to great heights but, in tribute, Snoop Dogg kept it old school with his performance of 1992’s “Deep Cover” and “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” with Kurupt. Snoop brought up Ty Dolla $ign for “Ain’t No Fun (if the Homies Can’t Have None)” and casually blew smoke as they closed out their set.
Lil Wayne Is Humbled
Lil Wayne | Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
DJ Khaled presented Lil Wayne with the Impact Award in his trademark braggadocious gassing-up, but not without getting real. Khaled recalled seeing a teenage Wayne while working at a New Orleans record store, and watching him grow into the forward-thinking artist who signed Drake and Nicki Minaj. “I was blessed to know Lil Wayne from the beginning. Lil Wayne is a rap god,” he said.
In a pre-recorded video, Drake effused that “our careers, our cadences, our melodies, maybe our face tats or our outfits or our decisions in general would not have been the same without your natural gift to just be yourself.”
Wayne kept his own speech brief, thanking his mother and the mothers of his four children — the eldest of whom was born when Wayne was a young teen — and lowered his eyes humbly.
“I don’t get honored where I’m from,” he said, choking up briefly. “Where I’m from, In New Orleans, you’re not supposed to do this. We don’t get honored. I don’t know all of y’all tonight. Thank you. I ain’t s— without you.”
Honoring the rap icon, 2 Chainz covered early Wayne single “Duffle Bag Boy,” one of Wayne’s first singles, and Tyga performed “A Milli.”
Rico Love Makes A Call To Action
BMC Chair Rico Love, a GRAMMY-nominated songwriter and producer, offered words of praise for the honorees while speaking to the larger impact of the Black Music Collective.
“We need to stop allowing people to make us feel like they’re doing us favors when they recognize us. We did everyone a favor when we came here and we changed the game and we built this building that they’re thriving in,” Love said. “Now it is time for us to capitalize off the riches of the land, and under my watch, [we] are going to make sure that we do just that.“
Love encouraged the audience to become voting members of the Recording Academy, noting that the energy present that evening in the Palladium should continue throughout the year. The work the BMC does goes beyond awards, he said, noting grave mishandling of justice and a lack of respect for Black lives.
“I’m committed to making it my business in the BMC to take a stand and use our resources to fight for change. This can’t just be about music, this can’t just be about lifting ourselves up; this can’t be just about Instagram photos and vanity,” he said. “It has to be about helping somebody. It has to be about encouraging people who are influenced by the work that we do. I’m holding everybody in this room accountable.”
Head to live.GRAMMY.com all year long to watch all the GRAMMY performances, acceptance speeches, the GRAMMY Live From The Red Carpet livestream special, the full Premiere Ceremony livestream, and even more exclusive, never-before-seen content from the 2023 GRAMMYs.
