Kendrick Lamar will induct hip hop crew NWA into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame this year, it has been revealed today (February 22).
Taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City on April 8, Grammy-award winning rapper Lamar will present N.W.A with an entry into the hall of fame. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been recognising and honouring legends from across the musical spectrum. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum is based in downtown Ohio, Cleaveland.
Kid Rock will be inducting punk band Cheap Trick, while scheduled speeches will also be coming from the likes of Matchbox Twenty‘s Rob Thomas, Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich and The Black Keys. Chicago[a], [a]Deep Purple and Steve Miller will also be joining the 2016 class of inductees. Artists who join the ranks need to have released their first single or album 25 years ago (no later than 1990) to be deemed eligible.
The ceremony will also be broadcast on HBO on April 30.
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Last year in December 2015, after the names of the inductees were announced, Ice Cube spoke to Rolling Stone about the choice:
“It’s hard to sum up exactly what it means. It means a lot of things. It means that the group’s mark is kind of solidified. It’s all legitimized in a way because the whole music industry has to honor the group in a way … It’s everything that kind of eluded us in a lot of ways when we were coming up. So many people were opinionated about N.W.A. I think everyone now at this point, no matter how you feel about us, understands what the group actually did and what it means to modern music.”
Going on, he was asked of Eazy E would be pleased with the induction with Cube replying:
“I think he’d be real excited because he was always fighting for legitimacy, whether it was trying to get out of the dope gang and become a legitimate, productive person in society. Also, the industry talked a lot of shit. This would please him I think because the music that we did is a force to be reckoned with. We got some of the most creative, talented people in N.W.A that’s ever been compiled in one group. It’s just exciting that the group as a whole gets recognized by the whole industry as Hall of Fame-worthy.”
He also tweeted a video thanking the general music public and industry in December 2015.
Thank you… pic.twitter.com/22yd4fVgct
— Ice Cube (@icecube) December 17, 2015
Ice Cube has also said that he will reunite the living members of NWA at this year’s Coachella festival. The rapper is listed on the line-up for this year’s event as a solo artist, alongside headlibers Guns N’ Roses, Calvin Harris and LCD Soundsystem. However, in an interview with US show The Talk, he promised that his set will feature much more.