'Hip hop does not belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...' KISS legend Gene Simmons makes stance on rap clear
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Gene Simmons doesn't think rappers should ever be recognised for their music by the organisation.
KISS legend Gene Simmons has shot down the idea that rappers could be recognised in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame insisting "hip hop does not belong".
The 76-year-old musician - who was inducted himsel as part of the Rock And Roll All Nite band in 2014 - says the integrity of the Hall of Fame must be upheld, and rap has no place being recognised, just the same as classical music or any other genre that is not rock and roll.
He told the LegendsNLeaders podcast: “It’s not my music. I don’t come from the ghetto. It doesn’t speak my language.
"And as I said in print many times, hip-hop does not belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, nor does opera or symphony orchestras. "How come the New York Philharmonic doesn’t get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Because it’s called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Gene recalled his discussions with Ice Cube - who was inducted as part of the N.W.A. a year after KISS - and insisted the art form is more "spoken-word" than music.
He said: "Ice Cube and I had a back and forth, He’s a bright guy, and I respect what he’s done … He shot back that it’s the ‘spirit’ of rock and roll ... 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’s going to be in the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame?
"Music has labels because it describes an approach. By and large, rap, hip hop is a spoken-word art. Then you put beats in back of it and somebody comes up with a musical phrase, but it’s verbal.
"There are some melodies, but by and large, it’s a verbal thing.”
Speaking over a decade ago around his own induction, Ice Cube defended rap artists being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine at the time, he said: "Rap is a piece of rock and roll, but there’s also a piece of soul, a piece of R'n'B, a piece of blues - all of that music that comes before it.
“I think rap captures the spirit of rock and roll just like rappers and guys who do rock and roll capture the same spirit, but they might go in different directions with it. But it’s the same spirit.”
