Missy Elliott, DJ Kool Herc, The Spinners, Chaka Khan, George Michael, and Don Cornelius were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Elliott is the first female rapper to have the honor. Queen Latifah introduced Elliott before she performed a medley of her hits onstage at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn during the induction ceremony on Saturday, November 4th. Jazmine Sullivan introduced Khan, who performed “I Feel For You” with Common rapping Melle Mel’s part. H.E.R. and Sia joined her while she sang “Ain’t Nobody,” “Sweet Thing,” and  “I’m Every Woman.” Khan brought Tony Maiden from Rufus after she accepted her award. New Edition put on a well-choreographed show in tribute to The Spinners, while a Soul Train scenario played out in the background in honor of Don Cornelius. LL Cool J inducted Kool Herc, who accepted his award with his sister Cindy. Andrew Ridgeley, who was one-half of Wham with Michael, inducted his later former bandmate. Miguel, Adam Levine, and Carrie Underwood performed some of Michael’s classics, including “Careless Whisper” and “Faith.” 

Will DJ Akademiks stop disrespecting Black women after his current conflict with Saucy Santana and receiving criticism from Queen Latifah? 

Is Nikki D right about the current women in rap representing the “Prostitution Era?” 

Ladies First: A Story Of Women In Hip-Hop is a new docuseries coming to Netflix. Women’s history in hip-hop is chronicled from early emcees like Sha-Rock to current rappers like Latto and Coi Leray. Hip-Hop is having its 50th year of existence and this docuseries is a timely contribution to all the canonizing celebrations. The trailer features MC Lyte who is also an executive producer, along with other women such as Tierra Whack, Rapsody and Queen Latifah sharing their perspectives. Viewers have already complained about the absence of Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliott but Shawn Allen who worked on the series posted. on Twitter that both artists refused to license their music and videos. Ladies First will debut the first of a four-part series on August 9th. 

Sunday night The Grammys celebrated 50 years of hip-hop with a lineup of some of the most prominent rappers of the genre. Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Run DMC, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, Rakim, Mr. Scarface, Busta Rhymes, Too Short, Ice-T, Method Man, Lil Baby, GloRilla, LL Cool J and Public Enemy performed the compact tribute on the stage outfitted like 1520 Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx where DJ Kool Herc hosted the earliest hip-hop parties. Black Thought narrated the segment while The Roots provided the music. Questlove curated the evening and he, unfortunately, had to remove many artists because of time constraints.