Can’t knock the phenomenon.
Two of hip hop GOATS have been inducted into the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
The 36th annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony took place at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday (Oct. 30) and JAY-Z and LL Cool J were among the inductees.
JAY-Z, who was inducted in his first year of eligibility, was presented his award by former president Barack Obama and Dave Chappelle. The rapper gave heartfelt speech reflecting on his upbringing and thanked his mother Gloria Carter who was in attendance, his family, Ty Ty, DJ Clark Kent, his fellow hip hop legends, and more.
“Thank you, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, for this incredible honor,” JAY began. “And you know, growing up, we didn’t think we could be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We were told that hip hop was a fad. Much like punk rock, it gave us this anti-culture, this subgenre, and there were heroes in it. When thinking about what I was going to say tonight, these heroes just kept coming to my mind, Rakim and Big Daddy Kane and KRS-One and Chuck D, and, of course, a fellow inductee, LL Cool J. I watch these guys, and they have big gold chains and leather and sometimes even the red, black, green medallions and whatever they wore, everybody would wear the next day. I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do. I want to be like those guys.’ And so I set out on my journey.”
He also shouted out former business partners Dame Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke. “Shout out to Dame, I know we don’t see eye to eye, but I can never erase your accomplishments. And I appreciate you and I thank you for that. Shout out to Biggs. He was one of the most honorable people I’ve ever met and we’ve created something that will probably never be duplicated. I appreciate you guys. Thank you for my journey. Thank you.”
LL Cool J was honored by Dr. Dre and also hit the stage for a medley of his hits, which included guest performers Eminem who joined him for “Rock The Bells”, and Jennifer Lopez for “All I Have”.
“I’d like to thank all of the people who voted for LL to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame year after year,” he said during his speech. “A lot of people, when I told them I got inducted, they’d say to me, ‘Isn’t it is about time?’ You see, what people don’t realize is, I wasn’t thinking about the people who voted against me. I was thinking about the people who voted for me. It was love. Like what I was feeling was, wow, here’s some people over there who won’t take no for an answer. They like, ‘Yo this guy got to be in here and we’re going to keep fighting for you ‘til we get him in here.’ So I thank you.” /
LL Cool J also added ““Humility. I know I’m supposed to get up here and talk tough and talk shit, but nah. Humility,” he added. “I’m not talking about that false, self-deprecating, I bow to you but I think I’m better than you shit. I’m talking about real humility, where you have the confidence to collaborate, the confidence to work with other people. The confidence to celebrate others… The last thing I’ll say is, rock and roll, hip hop loves you. We borrow your beats. We sample ’em. We turn them into hits. And we know where we came from. We know where things come from. We love and appreciate you.”
Other inductees in the 2021 class included Tina Turner, Foo Fighters, Gil Scott-Heron, The Go-Go’s, Todd Rundgren, Carole King, Clarence Avant, Kraftwerk, and Charley Patton.
The ceremony airs on HBO and HBOMax November 20.