Eminem is amongst an elite group of Rap artists who have been inducted into the Rock Hall including the first Rap inductees Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5, Run-DM.C., The Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, N.W.A., Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G., JAY-Z and LL COOL J. Upon Em's nomination, there were whisperings within the Hip-Hop community that although Eminem is deserving of induction based on his career accomplishments, he "cut the line," so to speak.
Jay Hudson, the program director at SiriusXM's classic Hip-Hop station ROCK THE BELLS says: "Eminem is so humble, I would think he would rather see some of these guys go in, too. He's such a Hip-Hop head and he loves the culture so much, I'm sure he wants to see Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap and Eric B. & Rakim go in. But it's always going to be like that, you can only have so many people go in each year. It actually makes it fun for conversation purposes."
Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten will be inducted as Early Influencers; while non-performers inducted this year include hitmaking songwriting/production team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis; Sugarhill Records founder Sylvia Robinson; and producer/Interscope Records founder Jimmy Iovine. The class will be inducted during a ceremony set to take place in Los Angeles on November 5th.
