Does N.W.A. Belong In The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame? Yes and Here’s Why

Gene Simmons and Ice Cube have been in a Twitter war lately about N.W.A. being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Gene, feeling they don't belong there and Ice Cube defending the halls decision. Well, here's why I think N.W.A. DOES belong in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

Back in 1951, a radio DJ named Alan Freed coined the term "Rock n' Roll" to describe the music he played over the radio. At the time, it consisted of what today, would be considered different genre's. Those would be blues, country and R&B. With Freed, it was more of a "feeling" than a format. I believe his thinking was, If it makes you feel good and you can "rock and roll" to it, it in fact WAS rock n' roll.

I used to have a problem with bands like The Four Tops (Inducted in 1990) or The Bee Gees (1997) being in the RnR Hall of Fame because to me, that wasn't rock n' roll. Rock and roll was anything from Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis to Steve Miller, Cheap Trick, Metallica, Nirvana etc.

But after learning what Alan Freed meant by the term "Rock n' Roll," I was way off. Here's a great quote posted by Ice Cube:

"Rock ‘n’ roll is not an instrument. It’s not even a style of music,” he added. “It’s a spirit that’s been going on since the blues, jazz, bebop, soul, rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, heavy metal, punk rock and, yes, hip-hop. Rock ‘n’ roll is not conforming to the people who came before you, but creating your own path in music and life. That is rock ‘n’ roll, and that is us. "

So yes, Gene Simmons, N.W.A. does belong in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame...and so does KISS (2014) ABBA (2010) Madonna (2008) Run DMC (2009) Alan Freed (1986) and all the others before them and after them. Because it's NOT about instruments...it's a spirit. So if N.W.A. made an entire generation "rock n' roll", then they've done their job and certainly deserve to be there.