Sadly, N.W.A won't be performing at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame event this Friday in Brooklyn. Ice Cube broke the news in a recent interview with The New York Times. "Nah, we’re not performing. I guess we really didn’t feel like we were supported enough to do the best show we could put on," he explained. He admitted the decision is largely due to organizers. "We wanted to do it on a whole other level, and that just couldn’t happen. But we’re totally honored, humbled, and appreciative to the Hall for even just considering us, inducting us, and inviting us."
The iconic Compton, Calif. group is only the fifth hip-hop act ever to receive the prestigious award. Previous hip-hop honorees include Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, and Public Enemy. Cube also took a moment to respond to Gene Simmons' controversial statements he made a few years back about rap not belonging in the Hall of Fame. "I respect Gene Simmons, but I think he’s wrong on this, because rock ’n’ roll is not an instrument and it’s not singing," Cube noted. "Rock ’n’ roll is a spirit. N.W.A is probably more rock ’n’ roll than a lot of the people that he thinks belong there over hip-hop. We had the same spirit as punk rock, the same as the blues." You can read the rest of Cube's interview here. N.W.A. will be inducted to the Hall of Fame by Kendrick Lamar April 8 at the Barclays Center, but you can watch the ceremony when it airs on HBO April 30.
