The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame dropped its 2026 nominee list on Wednesday, and the ballot reads like a long-overdue acknowledgment of Black musical genius. Lauryn Hill, Wu-Tang Clan, New Edition, Luther Vandross, Sade, and Mariah Carey all appear among the 17 performers nominated for the Class of 2026, according to Rolling Stone.
Every single one of them is a first-time nominee. Let that sit for a moment.
The Nominees Hip-Hop Needs to Watch
Lauryn Hill is the headliner of this conversation, and it is not close. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was the first hip-hop album to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. The Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry, calling it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” per the Recording Academy. Hill redefined what a woman in hip-hop could say, sound like, and stand for. If inducted, she would become only the third female rap act in the Rock Hall after Missy Elliott and Salt-N-Pepa, according to HipHopDX.
Wu-Tang Clan rewrote the rules of hip-hop with Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) in 1993. The group pioneered the idea of a hip-hop collective where every member could build a solo empire while the crew stayed intact. Their nomination is 32 years overdue. If they get in, Wu-Tang becomes the ninth hip-hop act in the Rock Hall.
New Edition built the blueprint for every boy band and R&B group that followed. Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant, Ronnie DeVoe, Ricky Bell, and Michael Bivins created a lineage that runs straight through to today’s pop and R&B landscape.
The Full 2026 Ballot
The complete list of 17 nominees includes Phil Collins, Mariah Carey, Oasis, Pink, the Black Crowes, Jeff Buckley, Melissa Etheridge, Billy Idol, INXS, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, Sade, Shakira, and Luther Vandross alongside Hill, Wu-Tang, and New Edition, as reported by Variety. Inductees will be announced in April, with the ceremony happening this fall.
Why This Matters
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has a complicated history with hip-hop. For decades, the institution treated rap as a guest in a house that Black music built from the foundation up. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five broke through in 2007. Tupac and N.W.A. followed years later. But the pace has always felt like tokenism dressed up as progress.
This ballot tells a different story. Six of the 17 nominees are Black artists who shaped genres the Rock Hall historically ignored or undervalued. Lauryn Hill did not just make a classic album. She made a political statement about Black womanhood, institutional education, and spiritual authenticity that still echoes in the work of Beyonce, SZA, and Janelle Monae. Wu-Tang did not just rap. They built an economic model and a philosophical framework rooted in Five Percenter teachings and street-level capitalism.
The question is not whether these artists deserve induction. That answer has been obvious for years. The question is whether the Rock Hall is finally ready to reflect the culture that has driven American music for the last three decades.
Fan voting is open now at rockhall.com. If you believe hip-hop’s architects belong in this conversation, make your voice heard before the April announcement.
