The late rap icon Tupac Shakur will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame next year as part of the class of 2017, along with the likes of Pearl Jam, Journey, Electric Light Orchestra, Yes and Joan Baez.
2016 was the first year that Tupac was eligible for consideration to be inducted into the Cleveland-based institution. An artist is eligible upon the 25th anniversary of the release of their first recordings, meaning that the rapper’s 1991 debut single ‘Brenda’s Got a Baby’, released in October that year, allowed him to be considered.
Tupac Shakur will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
The 32nd annual induction ceremony takes place on April 7th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Chic’s Nile Rodgers – perhaps as a recognition that his band always seems to make the longlist but never gets inducted – will receive the institution’s Award for Musical Excellence.
The pool of 19 nominees was selected from over 900 musicians and other industry voters, with the general public also recently getting a say in who gets to be inducted. San Francisco-based rockers Journey, famous for their anthem ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’, won the popular vote.
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Unlucky artists this time around include Jane’s Addiction, Depeche Mode, Bad Brains, Kraftwerk, The Cars and Janet Jackson.
Tupac, who was killed as a result of a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996, is the sixth hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five and N.W.A. have all been honoured with inclusion.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame museum itself will open a special exhibition to honour the 2017 inductees – five of whom are first-time nominees, unusually – on March 30th.
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