Run DMC has made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but I don't know how to feel about it. Long days ago, I wrote a joint about the way the Rock Hall, based right here in my hometown, handles black music in general, and hip-hop in particular. The premise behind the Rock Hall exhibits always seems to be to highlight the music and artist that impacted the white mainstream the most, and not neccesarily those who were the most impactful artistically. I don't want to say that Run DMC didn't have an impact, beause that could be stupid. But I think thier primary contribution—beyond ghost-writing for the Beastie Boys early inthe game—was crossing rap music over into the mainstream, and we can argue about how that worked out. I liked rap music better when white people ignored and dismissed it and weren't trying to get rich off of it. I think I'd like to see the Sequence, Jimmy Castor, Cold Crush Brothers, Dougie Fresh or Salt N Pepa get in first, because for me, those cats were true to the artform. They didn't seem to be as concerned about getting rich from hip-hop. I'm a fan of Run DMC, but I'm a little torn about thier induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Single Father, Author, Screenwriter, Award-Winning Journalist, NPR Moderator, Lecturer and College Professor. Habitual Line-Stepper