Gene Simmons “the day LED ZEPPELIN gets put into the Hip-Hop Hall Of Fame, is the day I will accept rap artists in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.”
Gene Simmons has once again made negative comments about the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inducting rap artists, saying that hip-hop acts do not belong in the institution. Asked about KISS‘s own 2014 induction into the Rock Hall, the bassist/vocalist told CantonRep.com: “It’s appreciated, but I never thought much about it. Like most entities, they’re political. Some people in a back room decide who gets in and who does not.
“There are people from different genres that I don’t believe belong in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame,” he continued. “There’s disco and rap and all kinds of stuff. And I highly respect rap, but on the day LED ZEPPELIN gets put into the Hip-Hop Hall Of Fame, is the day I will personally accept rap artists as being brought into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. It just ain’t the same thing. You go to Apple Music, and you go to different genres and you type in ‘rock,’ you’re not gonna find a single rap band in that category. Likewise, if you look at hip hop or rap, you’re not gonna see AC/DC or KISS in the list in there.”
Simmons originally took issue with hip-hop acts — and other non-rock artists — being inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame during a 2014 interview with Radio.com. He stated at the time: “It’s really back-room politics, like Boss Tweed. A few people decide what’s in and what’s not. And the masses just scratch their heads. You’ve got Grandmaster Flash in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? RUN-D.M.C. in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? You’re killing me! That doesn’t mean those aren’t good artists. But they don’t play guitar. They sample and they talk. Not even sing!”
He continued: “If you asked Donna [Summer], ‘What kind of artist are you?’, do you think she would say ‘rock?’ If you asked Madonna, ‘What kind of artist are you?’ do you think she would say, ‘Oh, rock!’ So what they hell are they doing in the Hall Of Fame? They can run their organization any way they’d like, but it ain’t rock! It just isn’t! If you don’t play guitar and you don’t write your own songs, you don’t belong there.”
In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Simmons predicted that rap would soon die out, and he said he would be the first one to dance on its grave.
“Rap will die. Next year, ten years from now, at some point, and then something else will come along,” he told the magazine. “And all that is good and healthy. I am looking forward to the death of rap. I’m looking forward to music coming back to lyrics and melody, instead of just talking. A song, as far as I’m concerned, is by definition lyric and melody, or just melody.”
N.W.A.‘s MC Ren responded to Simmons during his Rock Hall acceptance speech. He said: “Mr.Gene Simmons, hip-hop is here forever! Get used to it!”
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