Consequence isn’t happy about A Tribe Called Quest being snubbed by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The 2023 inductees were announced on Wednesday (May 3), with the legendary rap group not making the cut for a second year running. Cons, a longtime Tribe affiliate, shared his unfiltered feelings about the omission during an interview with TMZ.
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“What we not gon’ do is keep subjugating that name, A Tribe Called Quest, to a white popularity contest, and having them in there as the token n-ggas pick,” he said. “We gon’ stop that.”
The Queens, New York native showed love to Missy Elliott, who was given the nod alongside the likes of DJ Kool Herc, Rage Against the Machine and Chaka Khan, before continuing his tirade.
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“Now, we love Missy, shout out to Missy. We love everybody who got nominated for music,” he said. “But on a political side, what I ain’t really feeling is that now, we gotta explain 0-for-2. The merit of the music, you can’t put a record on that. You can’t put an 0-for-2 on A Tribe Called Quest and what they did for Black music.
“You can’t do that. I can’t allow you to do that. And as a businessman, I can’t even allow y’all to take A Tribe Called Quest as a name and the amount of publishing that I’ve got, and fluctuate the value of that. I can’t allow y’all to do that without speaking on that.”
Consequence shared the interview to his Instagram page and spoke more about A Tribe Called Quest’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame omission being “an issue of value and politics.”
“For the narrative to now be that A Tribe Called Quest is 0-2 with @rockhall becomes an issue of value and politics,” he wrote. “The ‘concentrated push’ is based on maneuvering between politics and popularity… NOT the value or merit of the musical catalogue and/or it’s compositions.
“I feel no anger or venom towards the @rockhall but I do think a conversation is needed at this point because of the domino effect of perception. Congratulations to Missy Elliott, Kool Herc, Chaka Khan and Don Cornelius, Sheryl Crow and everyone who has been Inducted this year!!!”
He added: “All I ask is that you… Do Right By My Family. THIS IS 192!!! QUEENS GET THE MONEY.”
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A Tribe Called Quest were nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in February, but didn’t receive enough votes to make the Class of 2023 cut. The group were previously nominated in 2022 alongside eventual inductee Eminem.
