Bambaata, Beasties nominated for Rock Hall of Fame

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno

      Earlier this year Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were the first hip-hop artists to get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and now there could be a couple more. The nominees for the 2008 Hall of Fame class were announced last week and include Afrika Bambaata and The Beasties Boys alongside Madonna, The Dave Clark Five, John Mellencamp, The Ventures, Donna Summer, Chic and a few others. Only five acts will make into the Hall after being voted on by the Hall’s committee.

      Announced on Rolling Stone’s website, Madonna and the Beastie Boys are on the ballot on their first year of eligibility; this year’s nominees had to release their first single no later than 1982, the year that Madonna’s “Everybody” and the Beasties’ punk EP Polly Wog Stew came out. The other first-time nominees are Cohen, Bambaataa, Summer and the Ventures.