On Wednesday (Dec. 13), Virtual Mancave Entertainment shared an interview with KRS-One, who was asked about the “A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop” special that aired on Sunday (Dec. 10). In the clip, KRS revealed that LL Cool J did invite him to participate in the tribute, which boasted appearances from Will Smith, Nelly, YG, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Common, Public Enemy, Jeezy, Queen Latifah, and more.
“I was asked about two months ago. They asked me to do it and I turned them down,” he said. “With all due respect, LL Cool J himself called me, spoke to my wife and pretty much begged for me to be on the show, but we turned him down. And reason being is because — I know people don’t understand this, and I say this respectfully — KRS-One is a hip hop extremist… I’m insane with this culture. I know I must have lost my mind in this.”
The Teacha continued, “I restrict myself in a certain way because I know who I am in this culture. You’re in the temple of hip hop, this is our home. This place, this institution can never side with, come under, understand the exploitation of our culture. Never will you ever see me standing in the environment where our culture is being exploited. So when I got the call, I immediately said, ‘Nah.’”
KRS then took the Recording Academy to task for waiting so long before reaching out to give the culture its flowers.
“First of all, it’s the Grammys? You get no respect here. None,” he stated. “Now we respect your existence, we know you exist. And we know that you’re the Grammys, and we understand that and we respect that. But you ignored hip hop for 49 years. At the 50th year, you wanna call us? You couldn’t even call on 47 and gear it up to 50. You wait till the 50th year to call hip hop’s authentic Teacha? Nah, you don’t get that privilege.” via @ ~ Jon Powell