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Grammy Awards Wrap-Up: Lil Wayne Wins Four Trophies, Performances Plenty

Published 02/09/2009, by Allen Starbury

2009-02-09 - Lil Wayne While the duo of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss dominated most of the Grammy's major categories, Lil Wayne took home a handful of trophies, including Best Rap Album for his multi-platinum Tha Carter III.

Despite leading nominees with eight nods, Weezy took home half that number. The New Orleans rapper won for Best Rap Solo Performance for "A Milli," Best Rap Song for "Lollipop," and Best Rap Performance By A Duo for his guest appearance on the popular "Swagger Like Us." And took the stage quite a bit throughout the night.

The music industry came in full force to Los Angeles over the weekend, despite a downpour of rain. The Grammy Awards and subsequent afterparties capped off the week's festivities.

The ceremony featured a slew of performances -- including an appearance from Stevie Wonder, who performed alongside the Jonas Brothers; and a superstar fueled stage show for "Swagger Like Us," where a nine-month pregnant M.I.A. hobbled out on the stage to join Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and T.I.

As previously reported, scheduled performers, Rihanna and Chris Brown, were absent from the awards show all together, after a highly-publicized domestic incident that resulted in Brown being arrested.

To fill in for Rihanna, the Recording Academy enlisted Al Green, Justin Timberlake, Boyz II Men and Keith Urban, who also performed Green's "Let's Stay Together."

"Things happen; you have to be nimble," Recording Academy president Neil Portnow told the Associated Press after the show, explaining he didn't know of the absences until Sunday afternoon. "We think to ourselves, we've got the greatest musical talent in the world in the same place at the same time."

Jay-Z joined Coldplay's Chris Martin who performed his track "Lost" at a piano by himself. Hova laid down his verse from the remix.

British newcomer and soul singer Estelle upset the wildly popular Jonas Brothers to take home the Best New Artist trophy, in addition to two more wins, including Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for her collaboration with Kanye West for "American Boy." Both West and Estelle also took the stage to perform the single.

Later on in the evening, T.I. took the stage with Justin Timberlake for their collaboration from Paper Trail, "Dead and Gone." Shouting out his murdered friend Philant Johnson, who was inspiration for the track, T.I. broke into his final performance before heading to prison for gun charges. He ended the performance by stating, "Adversity builds character, character will take you places money can't, welcome to my road to redemption."

Other winners of the evening included: Rick Rubin for producer of the year; Al Green for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals; Daft Punk for best dance recording, and B.B. King for best traditional blues album for One Kind Favor.

Winners are as follows:

Best New Artist - Adele (beat out Jazmine Sullivan and Jonas Brothers)

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance - "Chasing Pavements" - Adele

Best Female R&B Vocal - "Superwoman" - Alicia Keys

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance - "Miss Independent" - Ne-Yo (beat out Chris Brown, Usher, Trey Songz and Eric Benet)

Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals - "Stay With Me (By The Sea)" - Al Green ft. John Legend

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance - "You've Got The Love I Need" - Al Green ft. Anthony Hamilton

Best Urban/Alternative Performance - "Be OK" - Chrisette Michele ft. Will.i.am

Best R&B Song - "Miss Independent" - Ne-Yo

Best R&B Album - Jennifer Hudson - Jennifer Hudson

Best Contemporary R&B Album - Growing Pains - Mary J. Blige

Best Rap Solo Performance - "A Milli" - Lil Wayne