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N.W.A., Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, selected for Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame; Smiths snubbed

N.W.A. are set to burst straight outta Cleveland.

The influential rap group leads the 2016 Rock And Roll Hall of Fame class, joining Cheap Trick, Deep Purple, Chicago, and Steve Miller to be elected this spring. The announcement was made this morning via Twitter.

The five inductees were selected by a fan vote, and results from an 800-plus voting academy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Last year’s class included Ringo Starr, Green Day, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Lou Reed, Bill Withers, and others.

Among the notable snubs from the annual short-list are the Smiths, Nine Inch Nails, Yes, and Janet Jackson. Bands and artists become eligible 25 years after their first recording.

Here’s more on the Class of 2016, which will be elected in April in New York, via Reuters.

Formed by five rappers including Dr Dre and Eazy-E in the troubled Compton neighborhood of Los Angeles, N.W.A. revolutionized the music scene in the mid 1980s with lyrics drawn from the violence, crime and anti-police sentiments that the rappers themselves experienced growing up. They went on to sell more than 100 million albums and their story was chronicled in this summer’s hit movie “Straight Outta Compton,” which has been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award.

Deep Purple, formed in England in 1968, are regarded as heavy metal pioneers thanks to their ear-splitting live shows, ground-breaking albums and flagship track “Smoke On The Water.”

Cheap Trick “display a musical consistency over almost 40 years,” Hall of Fame organizers said in a statement, while Miller, 72, has moved from blues to pop and back again, producing classic hits like “Fly Like an Eagle” and “Take the Money and Run.”

Chicago, who broke onto the music scene in the late 1960s, fused jazz and rock to produce hits like “25 or 6 to 4” and the romantic ballad “If You Leave Me Now.”

Catch up with the nominees below…

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