Grownheadz : For adults who love hip-hop

Back before we were grownheads, we respected our elders. Especially the ones we spent time with the most–the ones on TV (latchkey kids, hoooo).

While our parents were out making paper, the Jeffersons, the Evanses and the Cosbys were teaching us valuable lessons about life, love and marriage. They were our surrogate parents, and not to get all weird on you, but some of them could tuck us into bed ANY NIGHT OF THE WEEK, knowhutimsayn?

5. Wanda: We figure Kellita Smith’s character on The Bernie Mac Show was Bernie’s second wife. Homegirl wasn’t technically a mom, but was helping to raise his crackhead sister’s kids while juggling a career as VP of AT&T. And she was keeping it tight.

4. New Aunt Viv: In Season 4-6 of Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Daphne Maxwell Reid came in as a tamer, more June Cleaverish mother to the Banks clan. Her light skinned thickness was a totally different look than the previous mom, and some people say the change was when the show jumped the shark. But she looked pretty good doing it.

Aunt Viv, you look different in Season 4...

3. Old Aunt Viv: The original Fresh Prince of Bel Air mom was a tall, dark beauty with a body like whoa. Janet Hubert-Whitten headed the Banks family for Seasons 1-3 with an outspoken personality and legs for days. A few episodes had her donning a dancer’s leotard and performing, and it wasn’t quite clear how Uncle Phil handled all that. She had a career too (damned if I remember what it was), and rocked Afrocentric hair from time to time. I miss her.

2. Willona: Upstairs neighbors never looked that good. Ja’net Dubois played Florida Evans’ contemporary, but unlike Florida, you could tell Willona Woods knew her way around a party. Even in her 50s and 60s, in I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and The Wayans Bros., she was still fine.

Spanking, anyone?

1. Claire Huxtable: The Don Diva of all TV moms, Claire Huxtable was kicking out kids and kicking butt in a courtroom. In another case of ‘How the Hell He Pull That?’ I just couldn’t see Cliff keeping up. The kids knew they could bid for Dad’s sympathy, but when Claire pulled up her eyebrow, even us watching at home straightened up in our seats. She knew how to crack that whip, and we lerrrved it.

Honorable Mention

Ghetto and loving it!

Peg Bundy: Former bad girl turned housewife Peg Bundy worked the redhead thang way better than old girl off That 70’s Show, with a lot cigarette in one hand and a box of bonbons in the other. In spandex pants and a leopard print top, she was sexier than Kelly and smarter than Al, even if she hardly ever got him to “go upstairs.”

January is winding down and we here at GrownHeadz realize that everybody else has already published their lists of hopes, dreams and ‘can’t-wait-for’s for 2010. But missing firsties has never stopped us before.
Our Christmas cards routinely arrive around Martin Luther King Day — we buy afrocentric ones to hedge our bets (they’re going out this weekend, mom, promise). So embracing the spirit of procrastination, we proudly present the last post to welcome in the New Year:

Hip Hop Wishlist for 2010

5. Real Death of Auto-Tune
We remember a time, not so long ago, when a rapper would get his boy from the block who can “sang” to do the hook on his song. Think TJ Swann with the Juice Crew, or the man who took it to the next level, spawning multiple hits and an imitator or two, Nate Dogg. No gimmicks, no hook ups, just one man, one mic and usually, only one note but we aren’t getting into that right now.

With the popularization of Auto-Tune, EVERYBODY is unleashing their inner Al B. Sure (not even close to being a compliment). Enough is enough. We’re not saying we want to see T-Pain’s kids in the poor house or anything, but we’ve been checking our clocks and that trend should be hitting the 15-minute mark any time now.


4. Positive Paradigm Shift
Alright let me get my grownhead, grown up rant on for a second. Can some rapper somewhere please, PUH-leeeze have a huge street/radio hit talking about something positive? Better yet, can two or three artists have big street/radio hits on some non-gangsta, non-clubbin, non-materialistic subject matter?
It doesn’t have to be an anthem, just be something we can really feel. Let it blow big enough that the labels and powers that be run out and try to find more rappers like that. And that the artists have good lawyers.


3. Adult Hip Hop Radio Station
All the kids who used to bump Run-DMC, the Fatboys and Whodini and now have kids of their own, stand up.
Alright, sit your big ass down, but I made my point: Us grownheads are all growed up now and in a prime demographic that advertisers like. Once some smart radio jock figures this out and spins hip hop from 1984 to 1996 exclusively, they will rule the adult urban market in their city.


2. Dope Female MC Catches Fire
We’re not asking for much, just for a female emcee to bust above ground who’s so brolic she’s undeniable. You know, like the first time you heard Em and thought, damn, whiteboy can flow. It’s been a long time since a dope female had a hit.
Back in ’92, there were actually enough female emcees to have their own concert festival. You may recall ‘Sisters In The Name of Rap,’ hosted by Dee Barnes and featuring Yo-yo, Lyte, Latifah, Salt N Pepa, Roxanne Shante, and about 20 other lesser-known rappers. Our own Resident Alien won a copy from Black Beat. But now? They can’t get enough ladies together onstage to give away a Grammy. The culture is suffering from the lack of female perspectives, and young girls need lyrical champions, too.


1. Strong MC from the Freshman Class
B.O.B, Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, Wale, Drake, Jay Electronica. Throughout 2009, this was the shortlist circulating on the interwebs for the Next Big Thing: the few, the proud, the fresh who would carry hip hop into a new age.
Several of the gents, like Asher and Cudi, dropped B- projects; the albums were decent, but their success rested mainly on one hot song. Wale and B.O.B. promise more brilliance than they actually deliver, and half of Drake’s appeal is just from being so out of left field. C’mon, ‘Degrassi Jr. High?’ Only Jay Electronica hits that heart, despite no major release.
We understand that it’s hard to live up to the hype, but when talking about game changers, WE think names like Rakim, Snoop Dog, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy. Things weren’t the same once they dropped, and their songs became classics.
The new cats got a few nice songs, but we can’t really picture a 20th anniversary release of “Day and Night.” But I guess we shouldn’t judge too harshly. On the strength of their first releases, we might have misgauged PE, BDP and the Fugees’ skills, too. Keep hope alive.

Yeah we still on him, and why not it’s the holiday season and a giggle never hurt anybody.

Michael Steele’s Morning Routine
5. Self Loathing Cry in the Shower
4. Choose Tie to Pump up Confidence
3. Glimpse of Blackness in Mirror Prompts Paralyzing Insecurity
2. Self Loathing Cry on Drive to Work
1. Denial: RNC Janitor Still Doesn’t Believe He’s the Boss

Michael Steele’s Top 5 Autobiography Titles
5. Please Sir, May I Have Another
4. What I Meant to Say Was…
3. The Devil Made Me Do It
2. No Offense Taken
1. The Spook Who Sat By the Door

5  Things You Don’t Hear on Hip Hop Albums Any More

As grownheads, we always seem to be whining about the good ole days: How everything was just golden in the Golden Era of hip hop. According to our own Hip Hop Purist, NOTHING is better in these modern times. Well, We won’t go that far, but a few things have changed. These are just some things you never hear on rap records anymore. Hot or not, they get us a little sentimental…

5. Rock Songs

In ’83, Run-DMC hit with ‘Rock Box’ and got some MTV play, back when NO black artist could get ANY light on MTV. Then the Beastie Boys blew up all over the place with ‘Fight For Your Right To Party.’ After that, every rapper (or their A&R) made it their business to drop a rock song on the album. LL had ‘You’ll Rock’ and ‘Cut Creator Go’ (a remake of ‘Johnny B. Goode’ by Chuck Berry). Boogie Down Productions had ‘Ya Slippin.’  And Public Enemy always had rock songs on their albums, even going so far to remake ‘Bring the Noise’ with Anthrax. We could go on and on; there are just too many to name. What’s tripped out is that lots of these songs were such straight-up rock records that if they lost the verse, they’d have been right at home on any metalhead’s playlist.

4. House Songs

First there was Jack, and Jack had a groove… Once upon a time, house music was played outside of just Detroit, Chicago, New York and Miami. At one time, house was loved by the masses, and not just those who lived near big cities or were gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that—we’re not homophobic in the least, in fact we love what the gays have done with design and brunch). Heads were no different. We got our house on, and when the Jungle Brothers put out ‘Girl I’ll House You,’ it was like somebody got chocolate in the peanut butter. Everybody followed suit. Chicago even developed a sub-genre called Hip-House with stars like Fast Eddie and Mr. Lee (and I used to rock THE HELL out of them at parties), and hip hop artists made “one for the club” on the regular. Queen Latifah had ‘Come Into My House’ and Craig G did ‘Turn This House Into a Home,’ but my personal favorite was 2 Live Crew’s “Get the F*#CK out of My House.”

3. Love Songs

Nowadays, love in hip hop is relegated to songs about your momma or dead homie, but back in the day before we got so ‘hard,’ the narrative used to go a little something like this: Rapper meets girl. Rapper lays down his rap. Girl can’t resist. They fall in love. Rapper then makes a song about said loving feelings. LL dropped ‘I Can Give You More’ and the classic ‘I Need Love,’ Heavy D did ‘Somebody For Me,’ Whodini had ‘One Love’ and Pete Rock and CL Smooth gave us ‘Lots of Lovin.’ There are lots more, but you get it. Most of these songs had an element of sensuality but managed to keep the focus on the emotional connection—something even R&B seems to have lost touch with.

2. Give the DJ Some

As the Lyricist gradually took the lead among hip-hop’s Four Pillars, b-boys and graf artists—always on the second tier—lost some prominence. But the DJ, as keeper of the wax, used to have a more equal standing. In earlier times, every rap album had a song shouting out the man behind the wheels of steel. Starting with Grandmaster Flash, some of rap’s hottest hits were about the DJ, and Jam Master Jay, Eric B, Jazzy Jeff and DJ Premier were some of the biggest stars. With the advent of multi-producer albums, many modern performers don’t even have a regular DJ to big up. 

1. No Collabos

Remember when the only person on an album was the guy or gal whose picture was on the front? It was such a quaint idea: expecting a rapper to show and prove, solely on their own skill. Now NOBODY does a record alone. With all the cross-promotion and trying to put the crew on, there’s barely any room for the actual artist on his or her own record. I mean, it was a big deal when the Sugar Hill Gang and the Furious 5 appeared on the same record, but today it would barely make a bleep. The first time this phenomenon really annoyed me was on ‘Doggy Style.’ It just irked the hell out of me that I had to listen to the substandard Dogg Pound take up  Snoop’s valuable mic time.

Back in the 80s and 90s, did you ever take a chance on an unknown group, just by virtue of the name and album art, then get home to find it wasn’t even the genre of music you were expecting? The happens less now, because of the Internet and the fact that most Grownheads just don’t have time for all that browsing anymore. But you get the idea. These are the Top 5 Rock Groups that could be Mistaken for Rappers. Enjoy.

U2

Sounds like: they could be some jazz-hop duo a la PM Dawn, or Us3.

Really: Well come on, you know who they are. But just in case , 4 rocks gods from Dublin who do really nice things and act all pompous about it.

R.E.M.

Sounds like: M.O.P., B.D.P., NWA–any rap group from back in the day with a clever name that needed abbreviation.

Really: Alt rock legends. Most Grownheadz know them for their mega-hits “Losing My Religion,” “Shiny Happy People” (1992) or, if they go a little deeper, “The One I Love” and “Stand” (1987).

All-American Rejects

Sounds like: The Beastie Boys’ lesser known and even wilder younger brothers.

Really: Influenced by Green Day but sounding more like Blink 182, the four-peice rock group from Stillwater, OK broke into the big time with “Swing, Swing” in 2002 and kept it up with 2005’s “Dirty Little Secret,” whose video featured images from popular, anonymous confessional site Post Secret. (from allmusic.com)

Bloc Party:

Sounds like: they could be some booty bass, dance-based rappers, kinda like 95South back in the day, D4L (“Stanky Leg”) or Soulja Boy.

Really: Bloc Party is an English indie rock band. They trace their musical lineage from The Cure, Joy Division, Sonic Youth, and in their more recent work, Radiohead. (from Wikipedia)

Sonic Youth

Sounds like: Some skinny jean-wearing crew that favors autotune and neon colors.

Really: Sonic Youth were inspired directly by the hardcore punk and no wave movements, but were more noise-rock and distortion effects. Ironically they’re the only group on the list with solid Hip Hop Credentials: In 1990, Sonic Youth released the single “Kool Thing,” which featured a guest appearance by Chuck D and as such became the first time many Grownheads may have heard the band. “Kool Thing” was later featured in Guitar Hero III and is available to download for the Rock Band video game.
(from allmusic.com and Wikipedia.)

As the summer blockbuster season limps to a close, some of you may look back with nostalgia on the mass karate fights, kicked-in doors and de-wired bombs that make up your most cherished action flicks. Grownheadz.com is here to remind you that lots of events that look like killer fun in movies would be disproportionately less fun in real life. Below, our Top Five.

5. Jumping into a Pool Fully Dressed
MOVIES: Whether you’ve just graduated from high school or landed the girl of your dreams, there are few ways to broadcast a life-changing event more directly than jumping into a pool dressed head to toe. It’s also, apparently, a great party starter: electric guitars squeal out of nowhere, drinks appear in everybody’s hands and invariably someone yells, “Let’s party!”

REALITY: That exhilarating splash is soon over, leaving you hobbled as you struggle to swim in a waterlogged sports coat. Once you get out of the pool, unless you strip naked you can’t really sit on any upholstered furniture, so here’s hoping the party stays on the patio all night. You thought that little stunt would be the talk of the party, but as the night wears it dawns on you that it was more of a you-had-to-be-there moment. Also, someone stole your shoes, you can’t get the water out of your ears, and that cute girl you were trying to impress? She can hear your squelching from a mile away, and she thinks you’re wet and desperate.

4. High Speed Chase
MOVIES: What a rush! The coppers (or mafia, or whichever side of the law you prefer) are hot on your tail and eating your dust as you execute one daring maneuver after another. Suddenly, your gas light comes on. Luckily, there’s a drawbridge nearby, but its warning lights are blinking, signaling an oncoming ship. Do you floor it? Do I even have to ask? In the movies, you soar over the 6-foot gap and down safely on the other side as your pursuers skid out at the last minute and shake their fists from the wrong side of the bridge. But in real life…

REALITY: You die. A lot. And way before you hit the drawbridge. Remember when you drove through that large pane of glass two guys were carrying across the street? In real life, a razor-edged shard shattered your windshield and beheaded you. Don’t like that? Well, how about those three red lights downtown? You may have floored it through the first two, leaving multiple-car collisions in your wake, but a 1981 Datsun T-boned you on the third, breaking your legs and puncturing your lung. That hairpin spinout when you drove against the flow of traffic? Dead, dead, dead. If by some slice of luck you even make it to the drawbridge, there’s no way your car would make the jump. The average car traveling at high speed, say 120 mph, has a jump of 10 meters, or 32 feet. That sounds good until you take into account that a car drops 7 inches every second of unsupported flight. So unless you’re riding on 42s, you’re going down in a watery grave my friend. And bystanders will laugh at you.

3. Barfight
MOVIES: You don’t have to start it. You don’t even have to know who threw the first punch. All you have to do is duck down and keep an eye out for hilarious instruments to hit people with. Barstools are handy, liquor bottles are dramatic, and if you can pull some hapless sucker in front of you in time for him to take a punch aimed your way, all the better. At the end, you and the guys kick back, order another round and laugh as the uptight proprietor moans in despair at the state of the bar. It’s good, manly fun, and bars have insurance for this type of thing, right?

 2. Walking Away from an Explosion
MOVIES: Good Guys know that eventually, you have to fight fire with fire. It can be a warehouse full of drugs, weaponry headed for the wrong side of a foreign civil conflict, ill-gotten artifacts from the Amazon Rain Forest or the headquarters of an evil genius. Point is, Bad Guys’ property sure burns pretty, especially if you set off the fire by flicking a cigarette over your shoulder as you stride away. A hero ain’t a hero till he gets his point across with a huge freaking fireball.

1. Shootout
MOVIES: Yelling catchphrases, blasting on bad guys, diving through windows and over conveniently located counters—there’s nothing like a good shootout to get the adrenaline pumping.

REALITY: I don’t know if we mentioned this before but it might sound vaguely familiar. Dead, dead, DEAD. Or at the least paralyzed. Shooting a gun is no joke and unless you go to a firing range on the regular your chances of hitting anything are little to none. There’s a reason movie Bad Guys are such terrible shots–do you know how hard it is to focus with all that adrenaline pumping through your system? And lest we forget, stray bullets like innocent bystanders. There will be blood, and unless you are a duly sanctioned officer of the law there will also be charges. Unlawful discharge of a firearm and reckless endangerment can net you up to 10 years, depending on whether the jury had a V8. If you manage to nail a Bad Guy, self defense MIGHT get you off with involuntary manslaughter, for 2. But that group of terminally ill 5-year-olds walking home with their adopted pet bunnies that you just shot up is going to get you at least 25 years in the big house. Now don’t you wish you’d settled things by thumb wrestling?

5 Rappers Who Don’t Need a Greatest Hits (but have one anyway)

It happens to every head at some point.  You’re casually browsing through the CD racks at the record store, just wasting time and suddenly you can’t believe your eyes. It can’t be! MC One-Hit and the Whatstheirnames have a greatest hits album?!  The right move is to shake your head and pop it right back on the shelf, but sometimes curiosity (and masochism) get the best of you. We’ve all fallen victim in moments of weakness, to buying schlock like this:

Mack 10 Foe Life: The Best of Mack 10 (2007)   

Come on now—18 tracks? Really?!  Even PE, Run-DMC and LL would have to push into filler territory for 18 hits!  Foe Life and, to a (much) lesser extent, W/S Foe Life (with West side Connection) and Nuthin but the Cavi Hit made some noise, but the rest of these songs are known only by the hardcore fan and Mack 10’s mom.

Tag Team: The Best of Tag Team (2000)

STOP LAUGHING! No, really, stop.  Some forward-thinking, enterprising soul said “You know what would really put Tag Team over the top? A poorly translated Spanish version of Whoomp There It Is.” And Whoomp, Si Lo Es was born. Now, I bet you feel really stupid.

Schoolly D: The Best of Schooly D (2003)

 Okay, this one I actually do own.  As a DJ, I’m a completist  when it comes to an artist.  But really, all Schoolly D needs is one of those “Five Best” CDs that  Rhino puts out for 5.99.  Yes, Schoolly will go down in history as the first rapper to cap somebody on wax, and PSK is a legitimate hip-hop classic—the beat has been sampled often, from Biggie to Case.  The brother even produces tunes for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. But 12 tracks is  overkill when your biggest song was last hitting in 1987.

Bizzy Bone: The Best of Bizzy Bone (2007)

Hell. Naw. I repeat: HELL to the NAW. Were the masses really clamoring for this?  On a side note, why is it when I go to Best Buy or, until a few months ago, Circuit City (WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? excuse me for a minute…) is there always an ass-load of Bone Thugs n Harmony product?  I mean damn near every album, new stuff, old stuff, what’s up on that?  Is the Bone Thug Nation that strong in the M-I-Yayo? Or is Bizzy on a secret tour, driving around the nation making sure his CDs are on prominent display? You make the call.

Luniz: Luniz – Greatest Hits (2005)

Luniz is another group that have a few songs, and they get props for introducing the term “Playa Hata”  (eventually shortened to just “hater”) to the world, but please check the track list.  It’s not like they were running out of room. They could’ve included the Posse cut remix of I got 5 On It, featuring E-40, Digital Underground, Dru Down, and Richie Rich.  I mean really, is Fuck You such a heartwarming hit that there would’ve been an uprising to cut it?  I’m just saying, if you’re gonna do a greatest hits, do it right.

Honorable Mention
Biggie Smalls
Now the Notorious One is no laughing matter.  But it aint too hard to round out the hits.  Just buy his first two–excuse me, his ONLY two albums recorded before he died.  Granted, there are some cameos and collabos floating around out there, plus the remixes that don’t stop.  But take it from a GrownHead: Ready to Die and Life After Death are really all you need.

Recently, we listed 5 Reasons Lil Wayne Might Be the Best …Maybe.  Well, if he is, then somebody must have lost the crown.  Ladies and Gentlemen, it had to be said: Rakim is going down.  For years, it was taken for granted among the hip-hop intelligentsia that no matter what LL said, Rakim was the undisputed Greatest Of All Time.  But here are 5 compelling reasons why, now, that’s not so much the case.

5. Lack of Product
In hip-hop, the old saying “You gotta play to win” might be revamped as “You gotta record to be heard.”  For people to rate you, know you, discuss you, they have to hear you.  Despite a few lazy cameos, Wayne’s prolific appearances have been quality and only made fans want more.  Rakim just isn’t out there like that.  Now I hear some of you saying Come on, he’s old school.  Stop right there.  KRS-One and Public Enemy have been around over 20 years and they still record like they’re in the prime of their careers.  But more importantly, they feed their fans that have been down for years and it gives new listeners a chance to check them out.

4. Lackluster Beats
Rakim is the poster child of what happens when the beats don’t move your feet.  He’s always got something nice to say but with generic or embarrassingly dated beats, nobody cops it.  File it under GS Boyz’ Stanky Leg: a hot beat can shoot a song with lyrics hard as cotton candy into the stratosphere, but if the beat ain’t hittin, the song won’t either.

3. Time
Time marches on.  With each year, titans of  the past get a little dimmer.  Rakim hit a looooooong time ago—I know, it doesn’t seem like it, but his last unqualified hit was Know the Ledge in 1991! The youngest Grownhead, at 25, was 7. Your average teen listener wasn’t even born yet. As far as they’re concerned, it may as well have never happened

2. Eric B.
Back in the day when it was officially Eric B. and Rakim, we fans often wondered why Eric B.’s name came first. He cut records like he was washing dishes, and his transitions were often awkward. He simply wasn’t that great of a DJ. I know I wasn’t the only one who got pissed when their albums wasted space for a REAL cut on a DJ-only song (two words: Chinese Arithmetic). He was no Jazzy Jeff, and you never got the feeling he was da man behind the boards like Pete Rock or DJ Premier.  When they broke up, most fans were like, ‘Sayonara Big Fella, you were dead weight anyway,’ and eagerly awaited Rakim’s rise.  But other than Know The Ledge, Rakim hasn’t had an official solo hit since Eric B. walked out the door.  Hmmmmm, maybe behind the scenes, Eric B. added more to the sauce than we realized.

1. Dr. Dre
Yeah, you read it right.  The D-R-E.  There was a huge buzz when they announced that the good doctor was signing Rakim to Aftermath in 2000.  The anticipation was palpable we just knew KNEW that this was the big one, this was it.  The best hip-hop producer with the best rapper.  Dreams of 5 mics and classic status awaited.  And waited , and waited…and waited.  Dammit, get in the studio already, what was the hold up? 

What we didn’t know then and are now fully aware of is that Mr. Andre Young is on that SOS Band Plan.  Take your Time and Do It Right. REALLY take your time and do it right.  Look no further than the ever-perfecting Detox, due out this year…maybe. When asked what happened in an interview, Rakim said they got beat after beat from all over which he thought were hot, but Dre passed on all of them.  Now, as we mentioned earlier, Rakim’s beat selection hadn’t been the best so we have to consider the source.  Still, after the 100th beat got returned Rakim said they parted ways.  The closest we would ever get to Dre and Rakim would be his cameo on the Truth Hurts single Addiction and Rakim’s appearance on Keep Watchin, a Dre-produced track for Jay-Z.  Ahh, what might have been.

5 Rap Acts Who Belong in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame
GrownHeadz, ever ahead of the curve, created this very special Hot 5 months before Run-DMC’s induction into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. Still, out of respect we decided to keep them on the list, as well as fellow honorees Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The rest of the rappers and groups named here haven’t gotten the invite yet, but they damn sure deserve one.

Run-DMC (inducted 2009)
No question, for these guys, the honor was long overdue. Run-DMC has true rock credentials. Three of their biggest hits were rock records: Rock Box, King of Rock, and Walk this Way. In fact, their second album King of Rock featured rock songs almost exclusively. Besides, Run-DMC, more than any other group, was responsible for hip-hop’s dominance of music in the 21st century.  But we already discussed this before.


Grandmaster Flash & Furious Five (inducted 2007)
Initially, I was one of many who questioned Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s induction into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. Don’t get me wrong, they were innovative, considered at one time the best in the field, and they made history when The Message went platinum in 1982. All that’s good enough for the Hip Hop Hall of Fame; I just didn’t think it was far-reaching enough for the Rock Hall. But the Hall of Fame has been good at picking artists who are the foundations upon which the city is built. Some early inductees into the Rock Hall like Louie Jordan, Smokey Robinson, and James Brown are not considered “rock” acts, but provided a basis for many rock acts who followed. In that case, of all the early innovators of hip-hop, GMF & FF definitely fit the bill. Plus, when they released The Message it put EVERYBODY (including other rappers) on notice that hip-hop was more than just party music.


The Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys do not get a free pass into the Rock Hall of Fame because they are white. They get in because they truly blazed a trail in hip-hop. They have gone from frat boy anthems (Fight For Your to Party) to headlining concerts that highlight China’s human rights abuses in Tibet. Along with rock-oriented rap hits, Beasties went all the way back to their punk rock roots and busted out live instrumentation on a few of their albums, like Check Your Head and Ill Communication. And, lest we forget, Sabotage is basically them singing (bless their hearts).


Public Enemy
Why PE? The better question is Why Not? Their first, second and third albums pioneered the “Wall of Sound” technique, and featured straight-up rock songs like Sophisticated Bitch and Channel Zero. With all the screeches, sirens and dozens of samples per song, a PE album demanded to be played at 11. Add in Chuck’s BOOMING flow and you have rap that is most transferable to rock. Bring The Noise lost not an ounce of credibility or funk as a rock remake. Furthermore, PE travels with a full band to supplement their sound on the road. One journalist jokingly wrote that Public Enemy was trying to be the Rolling Stones of hip-hop. Well, with both Chuck and Flav pushing 50, still putting out records and selling out shows, they just might do it.


NWA
Sex, Dugs and Rock n Roll. In terms of pure rock attitude, NWA was as hard as it got. When your favorite band scares your parents shitless, is under FBI surveillance and continues performing despite obscenity fines, you know they just don’t give a fuck—and you love them for it. Second only to PE in rebelling against authority, they were the Rolling Stones (bad boys sexing everything in sight) to PE’s Beatles (clean-cut good guys). And if you look at the line up, it’s pretty extraordinary. They had Dr. Dre long before he was hailed as one of the best producers of all time, Ice Cube, one of the top lyricists ever (though MC Ren was no slouch), and Eazy E, one of the first artist/label owners in hip-hop, whose label signed some classic artists (DOC, Bone Thugs n Harmony). If NWA were inducted, it would acknowledge one of music’s greatest beatmakers, rappers, and entrepreneurs all in one swoop.