“I’m extremely moved by this award,” Dre said, accepting the award. “I’m gonna say thank you to the Recording Academy and the Black Music Collective for this honour. I know everyone here probably knows this already, but this is the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.”
He continued, “Where would I be, where would a lot of people here be without hip-hop, to be honest? Hip-hop became a lifeline for me as a teenager growing up in Compton, and it started with a song called ‘The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel’. Scratching and mixing on the turntables had me hooked, and became the entry point to a 40-year career of doing something that I really love.
Finally, he said, “I’m also thankful to all the people who have been by my side, often through difficult moments in my life that caused me to get to this point in my life. Inspiration is one of my favourite words, and as a creative, it’s what I’m always in search of, and I hope to leave behind long after I’m gone.