As the first Latin Hip Hop group of note, Cypress Hill’s first two albums featured a slowed up groove with pounding basses that could almost be described as a Stoner Groove.  This sound proved to be influential on other Hip Hop artists that followed and their sound was a true alternative to other West Coast rappers.  The problem was that their later effort was substantially weaker almost to point of self-parody.  For Cypress Hill to have a realistic chance for induction, the amount of artists who cite them as influential will have to substantially increase.

In terms of commercial success, Boyz II Men are the most successful R&B group of all-time, and based on what they drew from, it was easy to see why.  Coming from Philadelphia, the quartet took that soul sound, infused a bit of Detroit, but more importantly built on the New Jack Swing movement that was already popular.  The group used every portion of their vocal range (which was a lot) and they owned the 1990’s.

Known on his birth certificate as Richard James, Aphex Twin had received the high praise of being called one of the most influential and innovative figures in contemporary Electronic music.  The high acclaim was earned as Aphex Twin pushed the envelope of Acid and Ambience and took the Electronic genre to places never before thought.  The question (as with many other Electronic based performers) is whether the Hall will ever choose to recognize this musical style.

When people first heard Alanis it was as a teeny-bop pop princess in the early 1990’s, though that was predominantly only in Canada.

When the rest of the world heard Alanis, she brought back her last name (Morissette) and delivered one of the most successful albums of all-time and became the voice of millions of women.