The 56th Annual Grammy Awards

Check out a recap of the 56th Annual Grammy Awards!

The 56th Annual Grammy Awards were held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles last night and was hosted by none other than the legendary, two-time Grammy Award winner himself, Mr. LL Cool J. Last night made the third time the emcee has served as the host for the prestigious awards ceremony, and he didn’t do too bad a job.

Capping things off, LL gave a genuine speech, reminding us all what made us fall in love with music in the first place.

“This is music’s biggest night because it’s first and foremost a true celebration of the power that music has to move us, inspire us, and surprise us.. like Beyoncé did with her album.”

Speaking of ‘Yoncé, she and hubby Jay Z opened up the ceremony with a performance of the fan-favorite “Drunk in Love.” Dressed in a black Nicholas de Carle bodysuit and a customized bra, Beyoncé made viewers feel as if they were live on the set of her music video as she enticingly straddled a chair while encircled by light smoke and danced under fluorescent lights.

As the night progressed, we also saw and were thoroughly entertained by performances from various artists, such as the 17-year-old New Zealand native, Lorde, who hit the stage with her infectious single “Royals.” Other artists that also graced the stage include Robin Thicke, Keith Urban, John Legend, Taylor Swift, and Paul McCartney, amongst many others.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis also took to the stage to perform a medley of their same-sex anthem “Same Love” while the multi-talented Queen Latifah officiated 33 simultaneous same-sex weddings.

Another particular performance that had everyone and their mother talking, though, was Kendrick Lamar‘s explosive performance of his good kid, m.A.A.d. city track “m.A.A.d. city.” The 26-year-old Compton native brought out the Las Vegas-based band Imagine Dragons to kick off the performance with a verse from their smash single “Radioactive,” before going on to further contribute to Lamar’s amplifying performance. Though he unfortunately didn’t take home any Grammys, this performance has surely been the butt of many conversations.

Click HERE to find out which artists took home awards last night, and click HERE for all of The Source’s Grammy related coverage from the past weekend.