The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducts Whitney Houston and B.I.G.

Over the weekend The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced their 2020 inductees with an exclusive ceremony airing on HBO instead of its annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony due to Covid-19. 

The Class of 2020 inductees included: Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, T.Rex, Notorious B.I.G. and Whitney Houston. The special that aired Saturday night gave an insight on how the artist rose to fame and their mark that was left on this world. 

Grammy Award winning singer Alicia Keys gave a personal tribute while she inducted Houston into the Hall of Fame.  “We all know what a miraculous singer Whitney was, perhaps the greatest voice of our time. We all know how her unprecedented success brought black women into the absolute highest reaches of the music industry’s pantheon,” Keys said. Adding “ her music will live on forever. That music, that everlasting voice is her final generous gift to us.” Whitney’s Mother Cissy and Sister -in- Law Pat accepted  the award on her behalf. During the speech Pat recalls a 2009 trip to London with Whitney where she stated “This is really special, but there is only one thing missing I’ve got to get the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”  Cissy ended that story stating “She did it.” 

Houston who had become one the greats acts of all time  was just 48 years old when she passed in 2012, and released her first debut album in 1985 and also made history last month for becoming the first Black Artist to have three Diamond Albums. 

There were several other acts who were posthumously inducted Saturday night. The Notorious B.I.G in 1997 who was fatally shot to death at the age of 24. In just his short life B.I.G.  was able to become one of the top voices in the rap and pop industry. B.I.G. was inducted by friend and collaborator  Diddy, who eventually signed him to the Bad Boyz Record in 1993. The rapper received several tribute speeches from Jay-z, Nas and Lin Manual Miranda. And to accept the award on his behalf was daughter Tyanna Wallace, son Cj Wallace and his mother Voletta Wallace. 

In his speech Diddy explains what B.I.G wanted, “B.I.G just wanted to be the biggest, he wanted to influence and impact people in a positive way, and that clearly has been done all over the world.” In closing Diddy said, “Tonight we are inducting the greatest rapper of all time into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Notorious  B.I.G. representing Brooklyn, New York we up in there!”

During the tribute from Jay-Z  a past interview was played. Jay- Z correlated the Notorious songwriting to that of Alfred Hicthcok saying “They were these tales that were disturbing, but they all had a purpose.” He continued by stating “ The human side of him came through in his music, and I think it moved the molecules in the world.” 

Lin- Manual Miranda started off his speech for Biggie by stating “It was the undisputed sound of New York. It was this voice with such authority and bravado. He had this incredible deep bass voice, but he wielded it like a virtuoso, and he could paint a picture with as few words as possible.” 

Lastly Nas weighed in on how B.I.G opened up the doors for rappers in New York. Nas stated “Rap music is all about who is gonna be the king.” In part of his statement Nas says, West Coast sold millions of albums, but Biggie changed all of that. 

The closing segment was his children starting with daughter Tyanna Wallace who stated “ Our father was one off the founding fathers of hip- hop.” Cj Wallace, son of B.I.G, stated in his tribute speech“ I’m honored to share his name and his dedication to Black music, creativity, self-expression, and Black freedom.” 

Watch the full acceptance speech for both artist below.

Notorious B.I.G.

 
Whitney Houston:

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