Nearly 16 years ago to the day, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five made history and became the first hip hop artists inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The question of whether hip hop belonged in the Rock Hall was one of hottest subjects surrounding the institution and debated on this website. Now in 2023, and after nine other hip hop artists have been included, the debate around hip hop is not a matter of if it should be represented, but why haven't foundational artists been inducted yet?

Because the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame now strives to include all popular music genres, it doesn't have the capacity under their current system to appropriately honor the diversity, richness, and depth of the half-century history of Hip Hop. This is why a dedicated Hip Hop Hall of Fame needs to exist.

But isn't there already a Hip Hop Hall of Fame?

Yes and no. You can read up on its complicated and messy history at Future Hip Hop Legends, but just know that at the first three "Hip Hop Hall of Fame" induction ceremonies (in 1991, 1996, and 2002), put on by three different organizations, Grandmaster Flash was honored at all of them. At best, it's woefully behind and incomplete.

Without the anchor of a true Hall of Fame (yet), Future Hip Hop Legends will serve as a platform to discuss and discover the most important hip hop artists of the past, present, and future, setting the stage for the inevitable institution that will immortalize them.

FutureHipHopLegends.com is home for the following:

• A ranking of the 50 greatest hip hop artists of all-time
• A history of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame and other competing institutions (there have been many!)
• The top artists who debuted in every year since 1979
• List of hip hop artists who have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
• Polls for every artist about their Hall of Fame worthiness
• Much more…

Like all of our sites, Future Hip Hop Legends will continue to evolve with feedback and suggestions from our readers.

This year makes the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip Hop, and as we saw from the epic performance at the Grammys, there's a desperate need to celebrate and immortalize the legends in a museum for future generations. We'll be ready.