(WWJ) - Detroit rapper Eminem will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this fall, earning the honor in his first year of eligibility and becoming the 20th performer from Detroit to join the institution.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2022 was released Wednesday morning. In addition to Eminem, inductees include Dolly Parton, Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Carly Simon, Eurythmics and Motown Records Lionel Ritchie.
The seven artists were selected from a list of 17 potential nominees that was announced in February and voted on by over a 1,000 music professionals and the public.
According to music critic Brian McCollum of the Detroit Free Press, Eminem is only the second living hip-hop solo artist to earn a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction after Jay-Z was inducted in 2021.
All other hip-hop inductees were enshrined posthumously.
The 49-year-old rapper only adds his hall of fame honor to a long list of accomplishments: Eminem has won 14 Grammys, 17 Billboard Music Awards, two diamond-selling albums, an Oscar for "8 Mile" and plentiful "best rapper" commendations.
Eminem made the hall of fame in his first year of eligibility, becoming only the 21st artist to do so since 2000. Performers can only quality for induction 25 years after their first commercial release.
Eminem dropped his debut album, "Infinite," in November of 1996 which was recorded in a little-known studio off of 8 Mile and released on cassettes and CDs.
[shortcode-inline-related expand="1" link="/wwjnewsradio/news/local/eminem-serves-customers-as-moms-spaghetti-restaurant-opens" headline="Eminem serves customers as "Mom's Spaghetti" restaurant opens in downtown Detroit" image="/media-library/image.jpg?id=64533245"]"'Infinite' was an early taste of Eminem's tongue-twisting, internal-rhyming rap skills and confrontational but soul-baring approach," McCollum said of the album in the Detroit Free Press. "It was followed by hit albums such as "The Slim Shady LP," "The Marshall Mathers LP" and "The Eminem Show," which helped him become the best-selling U.S. recording artist in the first decade of the 2000s."
Eminem is only the seventh hip-hop artist or group to be inducted into the hall of fame. Other inductees include Run-DMC, N.W.A. and late rapper Notorious B.I.G.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony will take place in Los Angeles on Nov. 5 at the Microsoft Theater. The show will also be available on streaming networks HBO and HBO Max.
