Dumb Gene Simmons recently opened his dumb mouth to criticize N.W.A.’s dumb induction into the dumb Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, dumbly saying he “was looking forward to the death of rap.” During Friday night’s ceremony, the hip-hop group responded. “I want to say to Mr. Gene Simmons that hip-hop is here forever. We’re supposed to be here,” proclaimed MC Ren. “The question is: ‘Are we rock ‘n’ roll?’” asked Ice Cube, “And I say, ‘You goddamn right we rock ‘n’ roll.”
You’d think a dumb old man would have better things to worry about than the sanctity of an institution which inducted KISS as a member, but no. Responding directly to Ice Cube on Twitter, Simmons wrote, “Respectfully– let me know when @JimiHendrix gets into the hip hop hall of fame. Then youll have a point.”
As the star of Ride Along 2, Ice Cube wasn’t about to back down. “Who stole the soul?” he tweeted towards Simmons. “Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Chubby Checker help invent rock & roll. We invent it. Y’all reprint it.” He also posted a photo of his induction speech, highlighting his comments of rock and roll. “I repeat. And say this with a Kiss,” he captioned the photo.
Which promoted yet another response from Simmons. “Cube, I stand by my words,” he wrote. “[I] respect N.W.A, but when Led Zep gets into Rap Hall of Fame, I will agree with your point.”
In an interview with the New York Times conducted prior to N.W.A.’s induction, Ice Cube also addressed Simmons’ comments, saying, “I respect Gene Simmons, but I think he’s wrong on this, because rock & roll is not an instrument and it’s not singing,” he said. “Rock & roll is a spirit. N.W.A is probably more rock & 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.” That argument makes perfect sense to me — then again, I have a hard time giving a shit about the Rock Hall of Fame when Kate Bush, Nick Cave, and The Smiths have all yet to be inducted.
