KISS OFF

’70s Rock Hall of Famer Melts Down Over Rap Inclusion

The bassist said rap doesn’t belong in the Rock Hall.

KISS bassist Gene Simmons said hip-hop “isn’t his music” as he justified his belief that rap acts don’t belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The 76-year-old rocker, who was inducted with KISS in 2014, said the genre “doesn’t speak his language” on the LegendsNLeaders podcast, adding, “I don’t come from the ghetto. I said in print many times: Hip-hop does not belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, nor does opera, symphony orchestras … it’s called the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.” The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, located in Cleveland, Ohio, has inducted myriad rappers and hip-hop legends, including Eminem, Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., Missy Elliot, and LL Cool J. Rappers have argued that hip-hop embodies the spirit of rock and roll. Ice Cube, inducted with NWA in 2016, said at the group’s induction, “Rock and roll is not a style... Rock n’ roll is not conforming to the people who came before you, but creating your own path in music and life.” Simmons said he respected Ice Cube’s take, but countered, “I just want to know when Led Zeppelin’s gonna be in the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame.”