The Rock and Roll hall of fame has announced its 2017 inductees, including the late Tupac Shakur who, per NPR, is the first solo rapper to be receiving the honor; folk icon Joan Baez; and Pearl Jam. As usual, there are the older acts who were extremely popular in their day (Electric Light Orchestra, Yes, and Journey), but whose legacy doesn’t feel…quite as vital now. As the New York Times points out, both Pearl Jam and Tupac just recently became eligible, as artists need to wait 25 years after their debut album before having the possibility of being honored.
The Times notes that Baez is the only woman inductee this year, and one of three in the last four years. (Joan Jett and Linda Ronstadt were also inducted.) This is nothing new for the Hall of Fame’s — as a reflection of rock n’ roll’s — representational historical void, as something of a monolith of white dudeism.
Shakur, who was killed in 1996, will play a pretty pervasive cultural role in the next couple of years, between this, the biopic All Eyez on Me (set for release on June 16), and the Forest Whitaker and Johnny Depp-starring film about the investigation into the musician’s murder, alongside that of Notorious B.I.G.
The induction ceremony will be held on April 7 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.