Questlove On Creating and Curating the Hip-Hop 50 Tribute At the Grammys |Grammys 2023

Questlove chatted with The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet of the 2023 Grammy Awards.

Transcript

00:00Tell us about this performance that you have curated tonight that we are all looking forward to at the end of the show.

00:05Yeah, you know, co-curated with L.O. and with Fatima Robinson and Jesse Collins and Sean G. of Live Nation.

00:14And it's just, we're five hip-hop heads that are bouncing off ideas.

00:19And, you know, I might have taken it too far.

00:22I think my first draft was closer to 20 minutes with 60 songs.

00:27They're like, that's way too much publisher money, Amir.

00:30We can't afford that, so you've got to bring it down a little bit.

00:33And I think what we did was we wanted to literally cover from Grandmaster Flash, from Flash all the way to Future.

00:43You know what I mean?

00:44And all stops in between.

00:46So I think tonight's going to be one of those special moments that you really get to see.

00:50And it's not about, like, the Cheevers or the A-listers.

00:54Like, we really wanted to get to the grit of hip-hop's nucleus and really offer something that hip-hop connoisseurs would enjoy.

01:04So that's what I insisted on as far as, like, what you're going to see tonight that would have been different if it were in anyone else's hands.

01:13And you're also here tonight as a nominee.

01:15How does it feel to be nominated again?

01:16It's beautiful, but I'll be honest with you, and my people are going to kill me for saying this.

01:21Even I voted for Viola Davis because I already got six Grammys, and I'm not greedy.

01:29And tonight is historical for her.

01:31She's like the third black woman.

01:35Oh, God.

01:36Taylor Swift's behind you right now.

01:37It's okay.

01:38You know, but I'm just saying that Viola Davis did something historical tonight.

01:44I'm very proud of her, and I absolutely relinquished my personal goals to her making history tonight.

01:54Yes, and she won that EGOT.

01:56And we can't wait to see the hip-hop performance.

01:57Thank you so much for everything.

01:58Hopefully, with tonight's performance, I might win my EGOT.

02:01I think you will.

02:02We'll see.

02:03All right.