KRS-One has never shied away from expressing his opinion, no matter how dogmatic or controversial it may be. In the case of the Grammy’s Hip-Hop 50 celebration, the proud culture conservationist didn’t hold back his feelings either. Sitting down for a recent interview, the Hip-Hop architect was asked about the event and what he thought about it. Anybody who’s familiar with KRS-One knows they are going to get a thorough answer—and he certainly delivered.

For starters, KRS-One revealed he got a call from LL COOL J asking him to participate at the event and instantly declined. While he admitted he’s “insane with this culture,” he noted he remembers Hip-Hop as being something “sacred.” And, judging by his comments, he feels it’s no longer being treated as such.

“I carry myself in a certain way because I know who I am in this culture,” he says. “You’re in the temple of Hip-Hop. This is our home. This institution can never side with, come under, understand the exploitation of our culture. Never will you ever see me standing in the environment while our culture is being exploited. Or, if you do see me there, the next moment this thing’s gonna fall. I’m there to bring this sh## down.”

He continued, “So when I got the call, I immediately say nah. First of all, it’s the Grammys? You get no respect here. None. Now, we respect your existence. We know you exist and we know you’re the Grammys. We understand, and we respect that. Your existence. But you ignored Hip-Hop for 49 years. At the 50th year, you wanna call us? The 50th year? That’s when you call? You wait ’til the 50th year to wanna call Hip-H0p’s authentic teacher? Nah, you don’t get that privilege.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIyQLKlZ1mM

KRS-One also laid out what Hip-Hop is at its root and lamented the fact that so many people seem to have forgotten.

“What we know as Hip-Hop is breaking, MCing, graffiti art and DJing,” he added. “Now, we can argue these other ones, but we know for certain that what we call Hip-Hop is breaking, MCing, graffiti and DJing. We’ve all agreed on that. So what is all this other stuff? What is this other stuff that you’re calling Hip-Hop? That’s not Hip-Hop […] Hip-Hop wasn’t there. Rappers were there. Very respected rappers were there. But it wasn’t Hip-Hop because Hip-Hop would have got on that mic and said, ‘F### the Grammys.'”

Essentially, KRS boiled it down to nothing but a “party.”

A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop premiered via CBS on Sunday (December 10). The special tribute show featured Nelly, E-40, YG, Will Smith, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Common, Public Enemy, Doug E. Fresh, MC Lyte, Ladybug Mecca, Rick Ross, Jeezy, Queen Latifah, Jermaine Dupri, Too Short, De La Soul, Akon, Black Thought, Gunna, Rakim and Chance The Rapper, among others.

Questlove recently talked about whose “no” hurt him the most via Twitter (X)— “MC Hammer.” He said, “We really wanted him to have his flowers. We begged him to open.”

Pete Rock cosigned KRS-One’s sentiments with an Instagram post in which he wrote, “Some of yall aint gon like this. What burns me is to hear people say how good this show was lol. Not when you missed 60% of major artist and producers and DJ’s,thats not a complete hip hop 50 show. You know what? smh go siddown or sum. i know Real Historians did not appreciate what they saw if they even saw it. #rp @iamnikkid__ Stop playing with #HIPHOP it’s a culture not a rapper! @teacha_krsone I LOVE YOU!! You always respectfully put things in perspective! #Thisishiphop #Krsone #grammys #scammys2023.”