Jay-Z Welcomes Hip Hop To Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five created history this week by becoming the first hip-hop act to be inducted into the Rock Hall.
Jay-Z, the recently unretired rapper and Def Jam Records president, noted how far rap has come since the days when Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five exposed the world to gritty stories about the streets of New York on songs like “The Message.”
“Thirty years later rappers have become rock stars, movie stars, leaders, educators, philanthropists, even CEOs,” he said, reading his induction speech from his Blackberry. “None of this would have been possible without the work of these men.”
Backstage, Grandmaster Flash talked about how hard-fought hip-hop’s now universal acceptance had been.
“There were some that called it a fad. They called it a flash of brilliance, excuse my pun. I think the significance of going into this organization is it’s the final place for corporate respect,” he said. “They all finally accepted and embraced this wonderful culture we call hip-hop.”
