Rap supergroup N.W.A. won’t perform at Friday night’s (April 8) Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, according to Ice Cube.
The surviving four members of the groundbreaking band will take to the stage to accept their latest honor at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, but they’ve opted not to play any of the hits that helped them get there.
“We’re not performing,” Cube tells the New York Times. “I guess we really didn’t feel like we were supported enough to do the best show we could put on.
“We wanted to do it (perform) on a whole other level, and that just couldn’t happen. But we’re totally honored, humbled and appreciative to the Hall for even just considering us, inducting us and inviting us.”
The gangsta rap pioneer, who will share the induction with Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, MC Ren and the late Eazy-E, has also addressed comments Kiss star and Hall of Fame member Gene Simmons recently made about rappers in the rock ‘n’ roll museum, when he suggested they should not even be considered.
“I respect Gene Simmons, but I think he’s wrong on this, because rock ’n’ roll is not an instrument and it’s not singing,” Ice Cube adds. “Rock ’n’ roll is a spirit. N.W.A is probably more rock ’n’ roll than a lot of the people that he thinks belong there over hip-hop. We had the same spirit as punk rock, the same as the blues.”
Longtime N.W.A. fan Kendrick Lamar will salute his hometown heroes at the Hall of Fame gala on Friday night.
N.W.A. will be part of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2016, which will also include Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, Chicago, and Steve Miller.
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