More than 20 years after their heyday, N.W.A. is having a history-making year.
The group’s biopic, Straight Outta Compton, made history as the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time, and now, the group is being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, reports Rolling Stone.
“So many people were opinionated about N.W.A.,” Ice Cube told Rolling Stone. “I think everyone now, at this point, no matter how you feel about us, understands what the group actually did and what it means to modern music. I think the movie helped to get people to remember that.”
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Ice Cube recalled his incredulity upon hearing the news—the group had been nominated three times in the past but never selected. They are only one of six hip-hop groups or artists who have been inducted.
“I think that just like any new music, [hip-hop] borrows from the music that’s already there,” he said. “Rap is a piece of rock & roll, but there’s also a piece of soul, a piece of R&B, a piece of blues — all of that music that comes before it.”
So does this new honor mean that we can expect an N.W.A reunion at the induction ceremony? Ice Cube said it’s a definitely possibility.
“It’s all about if we can do something cool,” he said. “If we’re doing something and it’s feeling kind of corny, I won’t want to do it. If we can do something cool…I think the audience wants to see something cool. They don’t want to see some forced medley.”