Hip Hop Hall of Fame

Plenty of attention was given to the 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Van Halen, R.E.M., Patti Smith, The Ronettes and… Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five?

Credited with “fomenting the musical revolution known as hip-hop”, the group is the first of the genre elected into the Rock and Roll of Fame.  Grandmaster Flash (born Joseph Saddler) and his group of 5 emcees are certainly worthy of the distinction, having pioneered the art of breakbeat deejaying, the fundamental element of remixing used  prevalently in Hip-Hop today.  But the landmark induction begs an important question: Why aren’t they being inducted into the Hip Hop Hall of Fame? Well… because there isn’t one.

Hip-Hop has solidified itself as not only a chart topping musical genre and multi-billion dollar industry, but a cultural phenomenon as well.  The genre has more than surpassed  it’s years as a slumbering giant - it has become a global powerhouse - and it’s time to recognize the accomplishments of those who made Hip-Hop what it is today.

Supposing the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame comes to fruition the first question would be the most difficult - where would it be located?  In Hip-Hop’s rise, personal tension between Hip-Hop icons Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG sparked a bitter conflict between the entire East and West Coasts, eventually leading to the brutal murder of each artist.  Revisiting this power struggle would inevitably lead to a volatile debate.  The natural selection would be somewhere in NYC, likely the Bronx.  What location would you suggest?

A far more productive and entertaining question is who would you nominate for election into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame in it’s innaugural year?  It’s a tough task, but we’d put a nice round 10 on our first ballot, consisting of the first “phase” of Hip-Hoppers:

• Afrika Bambaataa - Grandfather of Hip-Hop, starts to DJ in early 1970s
• Kool Herc - Father of Hip-Hop, brings DJ skills and talents from Jamaica
• Cold Crush Brothers - Include pioneering DJ Grandmaster Caz
• Grandmaster Flash - Read his Rock HOF Election Summary.
• Kurtis Blow - First rapper on a major label (Mercury - Christmas Rappin)
• Sugar Hill Gang -Influential artists who wrote “Rapper’s Delight”
• Run DMC - Helped bring Hip-Hop Mainstream
• Doug E. Fresh - One of the earliest beatboxers and rappers
• NWA - Pioneer Gangsta Rap
• Public Enemy - Brought political fury to the Hip-Hop world

Year two would bridge the gap into the 1990s with nominated artists such as the Beastie Boys, Tribe Called Quest, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.  Subsequent years would fill in the gaps, past and present.  In the most popular “Hall of Fames” (those in professional sports) candidates aren’t elegible for election until they’ve been retired for a set amount of years.  This would eliminate current artists such as Jay-Z and Nas would be virtual shoe-ins for entry into Hip-Hop’s hall.
So what group of people would be given the honor and duty of voting on artists for the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame?  Should the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame extend beyond music, into of influential Hip-Hop arts such as dancing and grafitti?  All viable questions, but one things for sure - no Hip-Hop Hall of Fame currently exists and that’s a problem we need to overcome.

What do YOU think?

March 25th, 2007

Entry Filed under: News, Rap / Hip-Hop