Black History Month- First Rap Grammy

I want to start with a disclaimer that rapping is not just for African Americans, anyone from any race, background, culture can be a rapper but in this instance the first rap Grammy was awarded to African Americans. It also made its moment in history with the controversy surrounding it.

DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince won the Best Rap Performance for "Parents Just Don't Understand" in 1989 at the 31st annual Grammy Awards. The other nominees in the category were:

J.J. Fad - "Supersonic"

Kool Moe Dee - "Wild Wild West"

LL Cool J - "Going Back to Cali"

Salt-N-Pepa - "Push It"

The controversy for the award was that it was not going to be televised like the other popular categories and according to the producers there was no time to televise the presentation. Will Smith (The Fresh Prince) and Jeff started a boycott against the ceremony and were joined by fellow nominees Salt-N-Pepa and LL Cool J. Salt-N-Pepa issued the statement "If they don't want us, we don't want them." The Best Rap Performance award was presented in the pre-televised ceremony and The Fresh Prince was not there to accept the award but Jazzy Jeff was. This has gone down as one of the top 10 moments in Grammy history.

Here is the video for "Parents Just Don't Understand"

And just in case you were wondering who was the first African American to receive a Grammy it was both Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie in the inaugural year, 1958, both in the Jazz category.