JAY-Z once attempted to have the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame rebranded to reflect Hip Hop’s cultural and commercial impact, according to the organization’s top boss.
John Sykes, the chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, made the revelation in an interview with Vulture.
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Asked about the broad definition of rock and roll as a musical genre, Sykes said: “The best story to convey this was when a great friend of mine, JAY-Z, got inducted a few years ago. I was so excited. But he told me, ‘Rock is dead. It should be called the Hip Hop Hall of Fame.’ And I said, ‘Well, Hip Hop is rock and roll.’
“He goes, ‘No, it isn’t.’ 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.'”
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Sykes continued: “JAY-Z hemmed and hawed, but he showed up to the ceremony. That made me feel like we had done our job to communicate that rock and roll is open to all.”
JAY-Z was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 alongside fellow rap legend LL Cool J.
During his acceptance speech, the Roc Nation mogul said: “It’s an incredible honor. Growing up, we ain’t think we could be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We were told that Hip Hop was a fad. And much like punk rock, it gave us this anti-culture, this subgenre, and there were heroes in it.”
He then paid tribute to those who paved the way for him: “Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, Chuck D and, of course, a fellow inductee LL Cool J. I would watch these and they had big rope chains and leather and sometimes even the red, black and green medallions.
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“Whatever they wore, everybody would wear it the next day. And I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to be like those guys.'”
Jay is one of 13 Hip Hop acts who have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside the likes of 2Pac, Eminem, Biggie, Run-DMC, N.W.A, Public Enemy, Missy Elliott and A Tribe Called Quest.
