Gene Simmons Drops a Hot Take: Is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Turning Into a Hip-Hop House Party?!
Added on February 11, 2026 inMusic News Cards
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Ever wake up and wonder if Mercury went retrograde just to wreak havoc on your playlist? Today, as the stars flirt with Aquarius vibes—known for shaking up the status quo and raising eyebrows—I can’t help but laugh at how the universe always seems to cue up a cosmic playlist just when music’s boundaries are under scrutiny. Case in point: KISS legend Gene Simmons is stirring up controversy, arguing (with all the subtlety of a cowbell solo) that hip-hop and rap artists don’t belong in the hallowed halls of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I mean, is it just me, or does this debate sound a little like arguing which zodiac sign is most likely to start an online flame war? While Iron Maiden fans clutch their pearls and Grandmaster Flash nods in the hip-hop corner, Simmons draws lines in the sand—just as the cosmos loves to do every time Venus and Mars square off. Is it about genre, spirit, or just keeping things neat for the historians? Buckle up, because the music world’s never-ending turf war just found new life under an unpredictable sky . LEARN MORE
Gene Simmons says legendary rap and hip-hop artists don’t have a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The KISS frontman tried to make a case for excluding certain artists from rock’s biggest honor during a podcast interview with LegendsNLeaders.
“The fact that, for instance, Iron Maiden is not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, when they can sell out stadiums and Grandmaster Flash is, right?” he said in an interview first posted last week. “Ice Cube and I had a back and forth [about this]. He’s a bright guy and I respect what he’s done. It’s not my music. I don’t come from the ghetto. It doesn’t speak my language.”
Continued Simmons: “And I said in print many times: Hip-hop does not belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Nor does opera, symphonies, orchestras. How come the New York Philharmonic doesn’t get in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Because it’s called the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!”
“But [Ice Cube] shot back and said, ‘No, it’s the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll.’ Okay, fine. So Ice Cube and Grandmaster Flash and all these guys are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I just want to know when Led Zeppelin is going to be in the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. ‘Oh, you can’t do that.’ Oh, really? Music has labels because it describes an approach. Hip-hop and rap is a spoken word art. There are some melodies but, by and large, it’s a verbal thing.”
“It just doesn’t speak to me,” he concluded. “The genius of being able to put music and words and arrange it is much more complex.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame had no immediate comment on Simmons’ remarks.
KISS was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Ice Cube’s rap group N.W.A. was inducted two years later. Other rap artists who have been inducted include Eminem and Jay-Z.
Ice Cube previously said about the issue, “Rock ‘n’ roll is not an instrument. It’s not even a style of music. It’s a spirit that’s been going on since the blues, jazz, bebop, soul, rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, heavy metal, punk rock and, yes, hip-hop. Rock ‘n’ roll is not conforming to the people who came before you, but creating your own path in music and life.”
Here is Simmons’ interview; his comments start around the 38-minute mark.
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