Rap group N.W.A to join Rock Hall of Fame

Ice Cube of the rap group, N.W.A. Photo / Getty Images

N.W.A will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year.

The Straight Outa Compton rappers will be enshrined at the 31st annual induction ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City on

April 8, 2015, along with American rock groups Cheap Trick and Chicago, Smoke On The Water hitmakers Deep Purple and 'Abracadabra' singer Steve Miller.

Ice Cube is "extremely excited" that his group are among the honorees and believes it has "solidified" their status in the music industry.

Speaking about the group - made up of DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, Eazy-E, who passed away in 1995, and former member Arabian Prince - he told Rolling Stone: "I'm extremely excited about it .... it's hard to sum up exactly what it means. It means a lot of things. It means that the group's mark is kind of solidified. It's all legitimised in a way because the whole music industry has to honour the group.

"We got some of the most creative, talented people in N.W.A that's ever been compiled in one group. It's just exciting that the group as a whole gets recognised by the whole industry as Hall of Fame-worthy."

A movie about the hip hop group growing up in California, titled Straight Outa Compton, was released in August and Cube thinks it helped fans understand their beginnings.

He added: "So many people were opinionated about N.W.A. I think everyone now at this point, no matter how you feel about us, understands what the group actually did and what it means to modern music. I think the movie helped to get people to remember that.

"Why were five youngsters out of Compton, California, rapping about this kind of stuff? It was basically trying to make sense of the world around us, in a lot of ways."

Deep Purple's drummer Ian Paice - who has just completed a world tour with the British rockers - thinks his group's honour is long overdue.

He told Classic Rock magazine: "The Hall of Fame should be embarrassed for not inducting us already."

- Bang! Showbiz