N.W.A’s Resurgent Year Continues

The groundbreaking Los Angeles rap act N.W.A. will join a quartet of 1970s era FM radio rockers – Chicago, Cheap Trick, Deep Purple and Steve Miller – as 2016 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After finding out about the news, which was announced early Thursday morning, the veteran singer, guitarist and songwriter issued a statement in which he made reference to some of the nicknames he gave himself in his classic chart-topping 1972 hit “The Joker”.

N.W.A will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year.

N.W.A. members Dr. Dre, left, and Ice Cube, appear onstage in Las Vegas, April 23, 2015. The band will release its 17th studio album a week before its induction.

Now, their resurgent run is set to continue, as they’re headed to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Voters this year played it relatively safe, though N.W.A. made the list of inductees, after having been on the ballot three times before.

“With over 21 top 10 singles, five consecutive number one albums, 11 number one singles – fans that stretch across the globe and countless bands that have followed in their wake, Chicago’s legacy is unquestionable”.

Cheap Trick, also from the state of IL, developed a style of heartland rock with guitar-driven anthems such as Surrender. I’m verklempt [emotional]. I don’t know what to say.

Steve Miller, while born in Wisconsin, became a leading force in the cultural mix in San Francisco in the 1960s as he experimented with jazz, blues and other American roots music.

Public Enemy, arguably the rap group best known for turning hip-hop into a political tool, entered the Hall of Fame in 2013.

Cheap Trick may well have new music to release in time for the Rock Hall induction. Eight of the individual members of Deep Purple have already been inducted int the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, namely, David Coverdale, Ian Paice, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Glenn Hughes, and Roger Glover.

The 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place April 8 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. This year marks the record tenth time that Chic has been rejected. Janet Jackson, The Cars, Los Lobos and Yes were among the other nominees rejected.

“Usually, I’m a man of many words, but this has got me in a tizzy here”, he says.