Erykah Badu and George Clinton Perform Together as Janet Jackson Calls for Peace at Grammy Hall of Fame Gala

The Recording Academy and Grammy Museum held their 2026 Hall of Fame Gala on May 9 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. The evening gave the audience a link between two generations of funk and soul when Erykah Badu sang with George Clinton. The performance felt less like a tribute and more like a natural extension of the lineage both artists have built, Badu’s voice wrapping around Clinton’s presence without forced nostalgia.

Janet Jackson made a rare appearance to accept the induction of her 1989 album Rhythm Nation 1814. She used the moment to call for peace, delivering a short address that cut through the formality of the ceremony. Her words carried the same directness that made the album’s title track a call to action three decades ago.

The class of inductees spanned a wide cross-section of recorded music. Radiohead’s OK Computer entered the hall 29 years after it reshaped rock’s relationship with anxiety and technology. Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain, a record built around a single guitar solo that Eddie Hazel recorded while being told to play like he had just learned his mother died, finally received institutional recognition. Selena’s Amor Prohibido, Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me, Eric B. & Rakim’s Paid In Full, and Alice Coltrane’s Journey In Satchidananda were also inducted alongside earlier works from Nick Drake, Heart, the Soul Stirrers, the Rouse Brothers, Bertha “Chippie” Hill, and children’s music pioneer Ella Jenkins.

The gala, often a polite affair, felt grounded this year. Between Badu and Clinton’s shared set and Jackson’s refusal to just smile and wave, the night made clear that these recordings are not locked in the past. They remain active forces inside American music.