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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio,

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Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 1: show that shines a light on the winds and losses

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Speaker 1: of everyday history. I'm Gay Blusier and today we're looking

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Speaker 1: at a notable moment in hip hop history, the day

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Speaker 1: when the genre was finally recognized by a mainstream award show,

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Speaker 1: albeit imperfectly. The day was February twenty second, nineteen eighty nine.

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Speaker 1: DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince's Parents Just Don't

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Speaker 1: Understand became the first hip hop song to win a Grammy.

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Speaker 1: The award was for Best Rap Performance, a newly created

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Speaker 1: category that was being handed out for the first time

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Speaker 1: that year. The award came as welcome recognition for a

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Speaker 1: musical genre that had been overlooked for more than a

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Speaker 1: day gad. Sadly, the importance of the occasion was somewhat

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Speaker 1: undercut by the Recording Academy's decision to not televise the award.

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Speaker 1: The Best Performance awards for Pop, Rock, and Country were

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Speaker 1: all broadcast live on CBS, but first time categories, including

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Speaker 1: those for rap, bluegrass, and heavy metal, were handed out

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Speaker 1: during an off air pre show that decision felt like

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Speaker 1: an insult the DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

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Speaker 1: aka Jeff Towns and Will Smith, together with most of

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Speaker 1: their fellow nominees. Towns and Smith decided to boycott the

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Speaker 1: show and were not on hand that evening to accept

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Speaker 1: their award. Parents just Don't Understand was the second single

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Speaker 1: from the duo's second studio album, He's the DJ I'm

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Speaker 1: the Rapper. The upbeat, four minute track dealt with the

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Speaker 1: generational divide between kids and their parents and the many

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Speaker 1: frustrating encounters that stem from it. For example, in the

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Speaker 1: first verse, the Fresh Prince describes the time his mom

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Speaker 1: dragged him shopping for school clothes and insisted on buying

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Speaker 1: the most uncool outfits imaginable, including a plaid shirt with

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Speaker 1: a butterfly collar and a pair of bell bottom Brady

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Speaker 1: bunched trousers. When the other kids inevitably made fun of

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Speaker 1: his new look, the rapper's mom remained unsympathetic, because say

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Speaker 1: it with me, parents just don't understand. Take a listen.

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Speaker 1: There was nothing I could do. I tried to relax.

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Speaker 1: I got dressed up in the ancient art of facts,

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Speaker 1: and I walked into school it was just as I thought.

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Speaker 1: The kids were cracking up, lapping at the clothes. Mom

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Speaker 1: bought that those you weren't laughing still had a ball

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Speaker 1: because they were pointing in whistle ring. Now to walk

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Speaker 1: down the hall like I hold him and told my

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Speaker 1: mom how my day went, she said, and they were laughing.

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Speaker 1: You don't need him because they're not good friends. The

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Speaker 1: nexting sours and try to explain to my mom that

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Speaker 1: I was gonna have to go to these about two

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Speaker 1: hundred more times to tell you, other kids on the

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Speaker 1: cross to lamp, there's no need to argue. Parish Just

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Speaker 1: Don't Understand. Released in the spring of nineteen eighty eight,

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Speaker 1: Parents Just Don't Understand went on to become a crossover hit,

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Speaker 1: eventually peaking at number twelve on the Billboard Hot one

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Speaker 1: hundred Singles chart. The song's playful tone and relatable subject

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Speaker 1: matter likely boosted its mainstream success. In fact, commercial appeal

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Speaker 1: was something shared by all the songs nominated for Best

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Speaker 1: Rap Performance in nineteen eighty nine. The other nominees that

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Speaker 1: year were JJ FADD's Supersonic Coolmoody's Wild Wild West, LLL

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Speaker 1: Coolja's Going Back to Callie, and Salt and Peppa's push it.

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Speaker 1: It was a deserving group of artists, but they weren't

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Speaker 1: fully representative of the genre circa nineteen eighty nine. At

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Speaker 1: the time, gangster rap was gaining ground with listeners, bringing

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Speaker 1: with it a more abrasive sound and more explicit themes.

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Speaker 1: The Grammy Awards chose to sidestep any potential controversy by

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Speaker 1: only nominating more radio friendly rap song for its first award.

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Speaker 1: That meant passing over the more recently released works of

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Speaker 1: groups like Public Enemy and NWA in favor of tracks

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Speaker 1: that had been released up to three years prior. Nonetheless,

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Speaker 1: the addition of the Best Rap Performance category was viewed

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Speaker 1: as a major win by those in the industry. Jeff

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Speaker 1: Towns later recalled the moment's meaning, telling the New York

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Speaker 1: Times quote, the excitement was through the roof. It was

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Speaker 1: validation for the culture. It was well earned validation, too, because,

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Speaker 1: as Will Smith pointed out in his twenty twenty one

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Speaker 1: memoir quote, rap music had outsold the industry that year.

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Speaker 1: We deserve to be there. Imagine the disappointment then, when Towns,

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Speaker 1: Smith and their fellow nominees learned that the first Rap

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Speaker 1: Award acceptance wouldn't be part of the televised ceremony. In

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Speaker 1: response def JAM Records, Russell Simmons and Leo Cohen began

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Speaker 1: organizing a boycott of the event. Two weeks for the

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Speaker 1: awards show. They released a statement announcing the boycott and

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Speaker 1: accusing the Recording Academy of quote ghettoizing rap music by

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Speaker 1: denying it airtime. The Grammy's official response downplayed the omission,

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Speaker 1: claiming that quote, when you have seventy six Grammy categories

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Speaker 1: and you only have time to put twelve on air,

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Speaker 1: you've got sixty four unhappy groups of people. The artists

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Speaker 1: represented by Simmons and Cohen weren't appeased by that explanation.

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Speaker 1: Will Smith called the snub a slap in the face

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Speaker 1: and went on to say, quote, you go to school

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Speaker 1: for twelve years, they give you your diploma, and then

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Speaker 1: they deny you that walk down the aisle. In the end,

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Speaker 1: three of the five nominees for Best Rap Performance chose

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Speaker 1: not to attend the thirty first Annual Grammy Awards. The

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Speaker 1: artists who boycotted were LLL COOLJ, Salton, Peppa, and the

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Speaker 1: awards winners DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Other

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Speaker 1: rappers such as Public Enemy and Slick Rick declined invitations

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Speaker 1: to the event as well in solidarity. Although the Recording

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Speaker 1: Academy would never admit it, the Grammy's boycott seemed to work.

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Speaker 1: The award for Best Rap Performance was televised the following year,

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Speaker 1: with the trophy going to Young MC's Bust. A move.

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Speaker 1: From that point on, the award was split into two categories,

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Speaker 1: Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Solo Performance by

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Speaker 1: a Duo or Group. Both awards, as well as several

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Speaker 1: later editions, continued to be televised each year. However, in

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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, history repeated itself when no Rap Awards were

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Speaker 1: presented on air at the Grammys for the first time

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Speaker 1: in twenty five years. For many, the omission was a

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Speaker 1: sad reminder that the more things change, the more they

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Speaker 1: stay the same. The one exception, of course, is Will Smith,

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Speaker 1: who never got tangled up in award show controversy. Ever again,

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Speaker 1: I'm Gabelucier and hopefully you now know a little more

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Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. You can learn

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Speaker 1: even more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram. At TDI HC show you can also rate

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Speaker 1: and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or you can

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Speaker 1: write to me directly by emailing this Day at iHeartMedia

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Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,

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Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here

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Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in History class