Gene Simmons says legendary rap and hip-hop artists don’t have a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The KISS frontman tried to make a case for excluding certain artists from rock’s biggest honor during a podcast interview with LegendsNLeaders.
“The fact that, for instance, Iron Maiden is not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, when they can sell out stadiums and Grandmaster Flash is, right?” he said in an interview first posted last week. “Ice Cube and I had a back and forth [about this]. He’s a bright guy and I respect what he’s done. It’s not my music. I don’t come from the ghetto. It doesn’t speak my language.”
Continued Simmons: “And I said in print many times: Hip-hop does not belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Nor does opera, symphonies, orchestras. How come the New York Philharmonic doesn’t get in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Because it’s called the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!”
“But [Ice Cube] shot back and said, ‘No, it’s the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll.’ Okay, fine. So Ice Cube and Grandmaster Flash and all these guys are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I just want to know when Led Zeppelin is going to be in the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. ‘Oh, you can’t do that.’ Oh, really? Music has labels because it describes an approach. Hip-hop and rap is a spoken word art. There are some melodies but, by and large, it’s a verbal thing.”
“It just doesn’t speak to me,” he concluded. “The genius of being able to put music and words and arrange it is much more complex.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame had no immediate comment on Simmons’ remarks.
KISS was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Ice Cube’s rap group N.W.A. was inducted two years later. Other rap artists who have been inducted include Eminem and Jay-Z.
Ice Cube previously said about the issue, “Rock ‘n’ roll is not an instrument. It’s not even a style of music. It’s a spirit that’s been going on since the blues, jazz, bebop, soul, rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, heavy metal, punk rock and, yes, hip-hop. Rock ‘n’ roll is not conforming to the people who came before you, but creating your own path in music and life.”
Here is Simmons’ interview; his comments start around the 38-minute mark.
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