Just got back from Miami with its beautiful city and beautiful people and im ready to kick of this blog with its first real entry. I have alot of time on my hands so ive been doing some reading lately and something that caught my eye in news is that Rapper LL Cool J (Ladies Love Cool James) has made the list of nominees to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame... Yes let that sink in for a minute... Now there are many diffrent views on what really "belongs" in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. I dont know about you but when I hear Rock I think guitar maybe electric, bass guitar, drums, and keyboard. When I think of Rock artists I think of Elvis, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, AC DC, The Rolling Stones, Journey, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, newer artists like Green Day etc etc etc. Dont get me wrong im not saying rap cant cross that invisible barrier between rap and rock because it has, in fact there are several artists already inducted into the the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame since 2007. In 2007 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted and earlier this year Run-D.M.C. was added to the prestigious list of inductees and deservingly so. I think the question of what belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame lies more in the artist and their contribution to Rock than the Rap genre's contribution to Rock because there have been many other artist inducted from different genres from R&B to Pop from Country to Blues. Many people are unsettled that rap is suddenly being considered as nominees but you have to remember Rap is a relatively new genre compared to others and one of the rules for inductees is that the artist must have released a record 25 years prior to being inducted. There arent many rappers that have been around that long. The Hall of Fame has been around since 1985 and rap didnt hit mainstream till about 79. Even so, I can think of a few artists who have released hit records 25 years ago that influenced Rock more than LL Cool J . I guess its only a matter of time before Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch is in the Hall. What do you think?
