Kiss‘ Gene Simmons pretty much declared war on rap/hip hop when he publicly stated among other things, that he was “looking forward to the death of rap.” A public squabble followed soon after when he took issue with N.W.A.‘s recent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Now N.W.A. rapper MC Ren has again fired back at Simmons and his band Kiss, this time labeling them as a gimmick band. He told Rollingstone.com:
“That dude is real arrogant. It’s like, how he’s looking at us, how he know that people before him in rock & roll don’t look at him like that? How he know the Beatles or Muddy Waters, if he was still around, don’t look at him as a gimmick? Who is he to say anything if he’s wearing makeup and heels and sticking out his tongue every 10 seconds of his show? Come on, man, that’s a gimmick.”
He later added:
“What if Paul McCartney said, ‘You shouldn’t be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?’ What if The Rolling Stones said, ‘Y’all shouldn’t be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,’ how would he feel then? He would look stupid. If you asked around, and you asked enough rock & roll greats, them dudes is a joke.
He’s probably so salty because hip-hop groups got in before he did, like Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Public Enemy. I think he was mad they got in before he did, but that’s what it is. And, Im’ma tell you this right now, you can quote this: ‘Fuck tha Police’ is way more rock & roll than ‘I want to rock & roll all night and party every day.’ Come on, man.”
