It happened when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five in 2007, and it happened again this weekend when the Hall welcomed Run-DMC. "Run-DMC? I have lost all respect for the hall of fame." "rap and hip hop AIN’T ROCK!" "c(rap) and the wonderful word MUSIC should never be said in the same sentence." So said your fellow Music Mix commenters. Blah, blah, blah. I’m trying not to put this in inflammatory terms, but may I ask what exactly it is that bothers some people so much about the idea of honoring undeniably influential hip-hop pioneers in a rock canon?
Here’s the problem with the argument that these self-appointed music cops are making: "Rock" and "hip-hop" are fluid categories. Go ahead and try to define where one ends and the other begins. You can’t, not with any degree of precision. As I noted when this year’s inductees were first announced a couple months ago, the Hall already includes musicians as diverse as Miles Davis, Van Halen, and the Everly Brothers. "Eruption," "Bye Bye Love," and Bitches Brew sound absolutely nothing like one another. That’s okay. They’re all expressions of rock music, reflected through one prism or another. The fact is that this puritanical obsession with boundaries and definitions couldn’t run more counter to rock’s true transgressive spirit. "Rock and roll" means whatever any artist wants it to mean. If you need that magical circle to exclude "King of Rock" because, what — it has a looped backbeat? Its lyrics are proclaimed rather than crooned? The people who recorded it don’t dress like your idea of "rock stars"? — then I’m afraid that’s just your loss.
But please, tell me what I’m missing here. If you’re one of the folks who objects to Run-DMC entering the Hall, enlighten me. Just why does this get under your skin?
More from EW’s Music Mix:
Metallica, Run-DMC inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
What’s the most heartbreaking song of all time?
Spike Jonze and Kanye West to reunite for short film
Method Man and Redman talk reunion album, movie plans, and more
Comments (1-15) of 219 Add your comment
I don’t have a problem with Run DMC nearly as much as I do with a Rock Hall of Fame where a tiny group of elitists get to decide who goes in. If a rock artist gets enough support from the public, and have been able to stick around for the required years, then it shouldn’t be up to the idiots at Rolling Stone to decide if they count or not. Groups like Rush, Genesis, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, etc. etc. deserve to be in if they still have fan backing 25 years later!
I agree with Rick. There are many more deserving rockers that should be in the Hall Of Fame and are not. What kind of following does Run DMC have that Chicago does not? I truly believe there is some sort of alternate agenda being served here.
Rap is in no way Rock and Roll…never mind worthy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Many would beg the question: Is Rap music?
if rap is crap then rock and roll must be the s**t being flushed
The reason hip-hop does not belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame can be found by way of analogy to the United States Supreme Court’s conclusion that while it does not know what “pornography” is exactly, it knows it when it sees it. I know what Rock and Roll is when I hear it, and it is not hip-hop. Rap is Crap!
Rap/hiphop artists do not play instruments and have no musical talent in that respect. They do not belong in the Rock hall of fame in which all those bands played instruments.
Madonna made it, but the Stooges haven’t? How can anyone take it seriously?
Lame. They should be in the Dixie Land hall of fame too….
“Rap” stands for Rhythmic Accompanied Poetry. It grew out of the Beat Poets.
It is NOT MUSIC. It is “Poetry”, though the foul mouths and misbehavior of the so-called “rap artists” are such that honest poets would likely try to disown it as well.
It merely STEALS music for a background. No so-called “rap artist” has ever written a single musical note.
If there isn’t a RAP/HIP HOP hall of fame, there should be…and that’s where these groups belong. NOT in the rock n roll hall.
Completely different genres.
http://movies-tv-entertainment.blogspot.com/
I have nothing against hip-hop, but keep it out of the RnR Hall of Fame. Why?
Simple – hip-hop would never induct a rock n roll band into any kind of hall-of-fame.
Rap suxxx, that’s why it shouldn’t be allowed to pollute the Hall of Fame. Rap “artists” have done more to degrade and de-humanize females than all the serial killers in this country combined. Hip Hop caused the credit and housing bubble to boot!! All about greed and what “my nigggaaazzz” can get as fast as possible. Combine dumb and greedy and you get the housing debacle. Combine dumb, greedy and stupid, and you get Hip Hop.
Hello??? If KISS can’t be in the R&R Hall of Fame, then niether should RAP!
The rappers call themselves artist’s but quality singers are artist’s. Rap is for people who cannot sign and could not carry a tune in a bucket.
And what about MC5?
I love old school rap, bit if there was a rap hall of fame they would never allow Van Halen into it. So there is the explanation you are looking for.