Rap homing in on Hall of Fame

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, whose social-message music in the early 1980s earned rap early critical respect, is now the first rap act to make it onto the final ballot of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

DJ Grandmaster Flash (the Barbados-born Joseph Saddler) and his crew made the final ballot in their first year of eligibility, as did U2, the Irish quartet whose two-decade run of commercial and critical successes has made them arguably the top rock act in the world for that time frame.

Other finalists this year include the Sex Pistols, the seminal punk outfit that has been passed over by the Hall voters in recent years; the Pretenders; Randy Newman; Buddy Guy; the J. Geils Band; Percy Sledge; Conway Twitty and Wanda Jackson. Artists are eligible for consideration 25 years after the release of their first recording.