MC Ren of N.W.A. has slammed Gene Simmons for the negative comments the KISS bassist/vocalist made about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inducting rap artists. “That dude is real arrogant,” the rapper told Rolling Stone. “It’s like, how he’s looking at us, how he know that people before him in rock and roll don’t look at him like that? How he know THE BEATLES or Muddy Waters, if he was still around, don’t look at him as a gimmick? Who is he to say anything if he’s wearing makeup and heels and sticking out his tongue every 10 seconds of his show? Come on, man, that’s a gimmick.”
He continued: “What if Paul McCartney said, ‘You shouldn’t be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame?’ What if THE ROLLING STONES said, ‘Y’all shouldn’t be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame,’ how would he feel then? He would look stupid. If you asked around, and you asked enough rock and roll greats, them dudes is a joke.
“He’s probably so salty because hip-hop groups got in before he did, like RUN-DMC, BEASTIE BOYS, GRANDMASTER FLASH and the FURIOUS FIVE and PUBLIC ENEMY. I think he was mad they got in before he did, but that’s what it is. And, Im’ma tell you this right now, you can quote this: ‘Fuck Tha Police’ is way more rock and roll than ‘I want to rock and roll all night and party every day.’ Come on, man.”
Ren also made it clear that he believes rap music isn’t going away anytime soon. “Hip-hop is here to stay, man,” he said: “For real. You need to just get used to that. He don’t have a choice, man. And they ain’t gonna kick us out of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame because he says so. You don’t own the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.”
Simmons originally took issue with hip-hop acts — and other non-rock artists — being inducted into the Rock Hall Of Fame during a 2014 interview with Radio.com. He stated at the time: “It’s really back-room politics, like Boss Tweed. A few people decide what’s in and what’s not. And the masses just scratch their heads. You’ve got Grandmaster Flash in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? RUN-D.M.C. in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? You’re killing me! That doesn’t mean those aren’t good artists. But they don’t play guitar. They sample and they talk. Not even sing!”
He continued: “If you asked Donna [Summer], ‘What kind of artist are you?’, do you think she would say ‘rock?’ If you asked Madonna, ‘What kind of artist are you?’ do you think she would say, ‘Oh, rock!’ So what they hell are they doing in the Hall Of Fame? They can run their organization any way they’d like, but it ain’t rock! It just isn’t! If you don’t play guitar and you don’t write your own songs, you don’t belong there.”
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Simmons predicted that rap would soon die out, and he’ll be the first one to dance on its grave.
“Rap will die. Next year, ten years from now, at some point, and then something else will come along,” he told the magazine. “And all that is good and healthy. I am looking forward to the death of rap. I’m looking forward to music coming back to lyrics and melody, instead of just talking. A song, as far as I’m concerned, is by definition lyric and melody, or just melody.”
Source: Blabbermouth
