Hip Hop Enters Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
New York, NY —
Music born in the Bronx got its due at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony last night. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five are now the first and only hip hop group in the Hall of Fame.
REPORTER: Grandmaster Flash says it's a sign the corporate world has "finally accepted and embraced this wonderful culture we call hip-hop.'' Mellee Mel, the leader of the Furious Five, said the band definitely belongs in the Hall.
MEL: It was an inner city-based music, but we used everybody's music. I mean, we was playin' "Walk This Way" and Bob James and Bob Marley, the Brecker Brothers. We played it all and we danced to it all and we rapped to it all. So of course, it's the perfect music to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
REPORTER: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five wasn't the only New York group to be honored last night at the Waldorf. Downtown poet Patti Smith and Harlem's the Ronettes were inducted to the Hall, along with R.E.M and Van Halen.
