The Public Enemy frontman Chuck D disagrees with Gene Simmons about who should and shouldn’t be enshrined in Cleveland.
In a recent interview with the Legends N Leaders podcast, the 76-year-old KISS rocker said that “hip-hop does not belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” while adding: “It’s not my music. I don’t come from the ghetto. It doesn’t speak my language.”
Chuck D responded publicly, offering a different interpretation of rock’s evolution. “Gene definitely has his opinion and it carries major weight… however it is The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame … not considering it ‘ROCK’ may hold a debatable point but clearly RAP and some other genres of movement are the ‘ROLL.’ ” He continued, “Rock and Roll clearly splintered all over the place in the 1960s and big-banged ever since.”