Eminem will be the latest rapper to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on 5th November.
When some other rapper gets inducted into the revered Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the defenders of rock and roll’s alleged holiness may be heard rustling the same thing that hip hop shouldn’t be considered. Last year, when LL Cool J was admitted into the hall of fame, he said, “The last thing I’ll say is, rock and roll, hip hop loves you. We borrow your beats. We sample ’em. We turn them into hits. And we know where we came from. We know where things come from….we love and appreciate you,” before performing ‘Rock the Bells’ with Eminem, who will be inducted in 2022.
Well, I’ll cover this in a separate article, so let’s keep this to the main topic.
Eminem will be inducted into this year’s class in 2022, but he isn’t the first artist to end himself in the renowned musical institution withstanding these and totally stupid distaste for such a confluence of music genres.
The “Love the way you lie” rapper is inducted in his first year of eligibility in accordance with a Rock Hall regulation that specifies that a performer’s first commercial recording must be made available 25 years prior to the year of candidacy.
Being one of the few individuals from the rap and hip-hop communities in the room, the Detroit rapper joins a tiny group of attendees at the renowned honors event that is dominated by rock & blues music. To be sure, the institution has recently added a number of notable figures to its hall of fame, such Run DMC, N.W.A., Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Biggie Smalls, Tupac Shakur, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, and pioneers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
Missy Elliott recently made history as she became the first female hip-hop artist to be nominated for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2023. “It’s times I have gotten on line & seen your irrelevant your a flop your washed up & it would crush me at times BUT God you made me STRONG I kept going & you allowed my decades of WORK to SPEAK 4 itself I am HUMBLED thank you all my Supporters I LOVE YOU,” wrote Missy. “I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to all the other LEGENDARY artist who will now be inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame They have committed DECADES of hard work and IMPACT on music I thank you for the TIMELESS music you have shared with the World.”
“I want to say this is HUGE not for just me but all my Sisters in HIPHOP this door is now OPEN to showcase the hard work & what many of us contribute to MUSIC. I have cried all morning because I am GRATEFUL thank you rockhall & all on the committee & Supafriends,” she added.
It’s times I have gotten on line & seen your irrelevant your a flop your washed up & it would crush me at times🥺BUT God you made me STRONG I kept going & you allowed my decades of WORK to SPEAK 4 itself🙏🏾 I am HUMBLED thank you all my Supporters💜 I LOVE YOU💜 pic.twitter.com/gkHUttWoU5
— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) May 3, 2023
Here is a list of all rappers who have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, starting with the class of 2021 honorees Jay-Z and LL Cool J and ending with early rapping progenitors Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
1) Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Year: 2007
Who Inducted: Jay-Z
In terms of hip-hop history, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five are legendary figures of the greatest pedigree. The group, which was formed in 1979 and included MCs Melle Mel, The Kidd Creole, Keith Cowboy, Mr. Ness, and Rahiem, would play a significant role in influencing the style of rap music in its initial years.
The trio then launched “Freedom,” their first hit single, which reached the Top 20 of the R&B chart in 1980 after tracks like “We Rap More Mellow” and “Superappin'” was released. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five would become hip-first hop’s iconic act, and their hit “The Message” would cement their place in popular heritage.
2) Run-DMC
Year: 2009
Who Inducted: Eminem
At the 2009 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Run-D.M.C. received recognition. The late Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell and group members Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels, and Eminem were chosen to welcome the Kings of Rock into the Rock Hall. They dismantled borders between rap and rock, knocked down obstacles for upcoming rap groups, and disproved preconceived assumptions about what rappers might be.
3) Beastie Boys
Year: 2012
Who Inducted: Chuck D & LL Cool J
Since its origin, hip-hop was linked with the Black and Latino communities, however, the Beastie Boys were among the first significant groups to demonstrate that other ethnicities could participate in this cultural phenomenon as well. Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “MCA” Yauch, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz made formed the Brooklyn-based three, which was a complete contrast to previous rap groups in terms of style and attire yet could lay down slick tunes with the finest of them. In 2012, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the Beastie Boys, noting their “brilliant lyricism” and “innovative genre splicing” as factors in their popularity among critics.
4) Public Enemy
Year: 2013
Who Inducted: Harry Belafonte and Spike Lee
Since the early rap hits “The Message” and “White Lines” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, sociopolitical satire has been sporadically incorporated into rap songs. However, it wasn’t until Public Enemy exploded onto the scene that rap listeners would receive a full dose of it. Public Enemy’s sophomore album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, released in 1988, saw PE borrowing a leaf from the Black Panthers and urging a movement amongst the populace in response to societal injustices being perpetrated against, flipped the rap game on its head.
5) N.W.A.
Year: 2016
Who Inducted: Kendrick Lamar
The West Coast rap group N.W.A is unquestionably one of the most significant. Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, MC Ren, the late Eazy-E, and Ice Cube made up the Compton-based gang. Straight Outta Compton, their self-titled debut album from 1988, provided dramatic accounts of street crime and police abuse in South Central Los Angeles. The LP established gangsta rap as a significant hip-hop subgenre. The sentiment and spirit of West Coast hip-hop were defined by songs like “F**k Tha Police,” “Gangsta Gangsta,” and “Parental Discretion Iz Advised.”
6) Tupac Shakur
Year: 2017
Who Inducted: Snoop Dogg
Tupac Shakur was a powerful figure in hip-hop history. He was a revered writer, a renegade with a thuggish personality, and a rap artist with a strong understanding of the urban hardships most people have experienced in the ghetto. Tupac’s albums 2Pacalypse Now, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z, Me Against the World, All Eyez on Me, and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory showed him offering rebellious and true lyrics.
“With an unapologetic rawness, Pac embraced those contradictions that prove we ain’t just a character out of someone else’s storybook,” Snoop delivered in the induction speech. “He is rightfully enshrined amongst the greatest musicians to ever do it.”
6) The Notorious B.I.G.
Year: 2020
Who Inducted: Diddy
The Notorious B.I.G. was accepted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for 2020, with the organization citing his messianic albums, Ready to Die and Life After Death, as “two of hip-most hop’s impacting records.” Diddy, who brought the mc to Bad Boy Records in 1993, inducted him in a virtual event and discussed the late musician’s influence on the rap industry.
Diddy said, “Big just wanted to be the biggest, he wanted to be the best, he wanted to have influence and impact people in a positive way, and that clearly has been done all over the world.”
7) LL Cool J
Year: 2021
Who Inducted: Dr. Dre
After receiving six nominations, LL Cool J was inducted into the Rock Hall’s Class of 2021 alongside Jay-Z, and he won the musical excellence award for his efforts to culture, which began when he emerged as the voice of Def Jam Records at the age of 17.
Dr. Dre, the rapper’s pal, inducted him, saying he “hit that unique space that crosses generations loved by you, your mom, and all your kids. How about that?”
8) Jay-Z
Year: 2021
Who Inducted: Dave Chappelle
Jay-Z became a member of the Rock Hall’s Class of 2021 in the performer’s category. Given that the rapper’s debut album, Reasonable Doubt, turned 25 last year, his nomination came within the first year in which he was eligible. In his acceptance speech, the 23-time Grammy winner remarked, afterward adding “Thank you, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for this incredible honor. And you know, growing up, we didn’t think we could be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We were told that hip-hop was a fad,”, and “Hopefully, I’m informing the next generation that anything is possible.”
9) Eminem
Year: 2022
Who Inducted: Dr. Dre
For his monumental career, Eminem was honoured with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of induction. Dr. Dre praised the rapper for becoming one the best-selling hip-hop artist of all time from an “unassuming white guy from Detroit”. “Eminem wasn’t just an underdog who broke through the glass ceiling of hip-hop — he shattered that sh*t,” he said.
“I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” said Eminem. “One, I’m a rapper; two, I almost died from an overdose; and three.” “This sh*t’s crazy.” “So I wrote some sh*t down tonight that I’m never going to f**king remember, so I had to read it off the paper and sh*t, but it’s from the heart. I realize what an honor it is right now for me to be up here tonight, and what a privilege it is to do the music that I love, and the music that basically saved my life.”
“I’m a high school dropout man with a hip-hop education, and these are my teachers. And it’s their night just as much as it is mine,” said Eminem in his speech, with glasses on. “I almost died of an overdose in 2007, “which f**kin s**ked because” he then told his daughter Hailie, who’s in the crowd to cover her ears – “dr*gs are f— delicious and I thought we had a good thing going.” The rapper shouted out some of his influences like Big Daddy Kane, Big Pun, Biggie, LL Cool J, Ice Cube and more. He then named some rap legends that didn’t get inducted into the Rock Hall. “Those are just a few of the names that I hope will be considered in the future for induction,” he says, “because without them my a*s wouldn’t be here.”
