Jay-Z Calls For Hip-Hop Hall Of Fame As Rock Is Dead, Rock Hall Chairman Responds

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Jay-Z wants a Hip-Hop Hall of Fame, and the chairman of Rock Hall, John Sykes, reacted in an interview with Vulture.

“He told me, ‘Rock is dead. It should be called the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame,’” Sykes revealed. “And I said, ‘Well, hip-hop is rock ‘n’ roll.’ He goes, ‘No, it isn’t.’”

He continued, “And I said, ‘We’ve got to do a better job explaining it. Little Richard, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry — these artists were the cornerstones of rock and roll. If you look at the sounds over the years, those artists ended up influencing hip-hop.’”

Sykes said Jay-Z hesitated but eventually showed up and accepted his induction. He added, “That made me feel like we had done our job to communicate that rock and roll is open to all.”

These comments repeat what Sykes said last month in Jay-Z’s ‘Book of HOV.’ He wrote, “My last words, as I pleaded for Jay to come to Cleveland to accept his award, were that rock n’ roll is not any one sound, rather a gumbo.”

He also shared, “To paraphrase the great Berry Gordy, rock n’ roll created the sound of young America. It’s a spirit, and the spirit of hip-hop and rap connected rock n’ roll with an entirely new generation.”

Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine recently shared similar views about the Rock Hall. He told Guitar World, “One thing that people get wrong is that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should be just for rock and roll bands. That’s not what it’s for.”

The guitarist stated, “Public Enemy is more rock ‘n’ roll than 95 percent of all the hair metal bands that ever picked up an instrument, you know? It’s music that has spirit to it… I think rock ‘n’ roll should have a very, very broad sense. I think there’s room for a lot of different genres.”

Last year, Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Kool & The Gang, Peter Frampton, Foreigner, Dave Matthews Band, Blige, and A Tribe Called Quest were inducted.