-- Living Colour, "Elvis Is Dead"
A few years later, Eminem -- a white man -- broke the color barrier wide open when he became the biggest-selling artist in the genre. And he didn't achieve this success using the Pat Boone/Elvis model of sanitizing Black music to make it palatable for white audiences; his raps were as raw as anything else in the genre. More importantly, he worked with Black artists, often elevating their careers in the process. His success made one thing undeniable: rap didn't need to be whitened to be embraced by white audiences; it already was.
But Simmons wasn't done digging. When confronted with criticism over his comments, he tried to take the racial aspect out of his remarks by pointing out that the word "ghetto" originated as a description of Jewish communities. Even this explanation falls flat when one considers the successful careers of the Beastie Boys. Comprised of three artists, who, like Simmons, were New Yorkers with a Jewish heritage, their songs were among the first to combine rap and metal, planting the seeds even deeper with white audiences.
"They say rap and metal can never mix
Well, all of them can suck our"
(Sexual organ in the lower abdominal area!)"
-- Anthrax, "I'm the Man"
Anthrax's "I'm the Man," released in 1987, showed how rap was already influencing one of thrash metal's Big Four. A few years later, the band took it even further by collaborating with Public Enemy on a reworking of "Bring the Noise." Their joint tour blended the audiences of both genres even more. It would be interesting to hear the opinion of Scott Ian -- the band's rhythm guitarist who rapped on both tracks -- on Simmons's comments, especially since he has repeatedly stressed the impact KISS had on his musical development.
As the '90s progressed, the influence of rap on metal became even more evident as nu"'metal rose to prominence. Bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park all incorporated vocal stylings descended from rap. The latter two, along with Slipknot, even included DJs among their members, using turntables as instruments -- something first popularized in rap.
By the end of the decade, rap wasn't just influencing metal -- it was embedded in its DNA, whether Simmons wants to acknowledge it or not. Even if one refuses to recognize rap as a genre within rock, it clearly meets the criteria as an influence.
A stated mission of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is to recognize music that has influenced the development of the genre, and Simmons's suggested ban would violate that spirit. Traditionally, this has been reflected in the induction of blues and country artists. Under this criterion, there should also be room for rap artists.
Gene Simmons has transformed from the rock star who achieved fame riding a wave of rebellion into a retiree shouting at kids to get off his lawn. Having stepped offstage, he might consider putting the microphone down. Because with every one of these slips of the tongue, he risks permanently damaging the KISS brand he spent decades building.
Carl Petersen is a former Green Party candidate for the LAUSD School Board and a longtime advocate for public education and special needs families. Now based in Washington State, he writes about politics, culture, and their intersections at TheDifrntDrmr.
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