Ice Cube says Gene Simmons slamming rap is ‘wack’: Rock and roll ‘is a spirit, it’s not a guitar’

Ice Cube just gave KISS frontman Gene Simmons a rock history lesson.

The stars have been feuding on Twitter ever since Simmons told Rolling Stone he “is looking forward to the death of rap,” prompting Cube to give a fiery acceptance speech defending hip-hop’s place in the industry when N.W.A. was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Friday.

Speaking to Sway Calloway during SiriusXM Shade 45‘s Town Hall with the cast of Barbershop: The Next Cut on Tuesday, the rapper and actor explained the musical evolution that birthed both rock and rap.

“Rock and roll is something that developed because of the rock and roll spirit of blues players back in the day, and probably before that,” said Cube, 46. “The blues took it to another level, and then you had jazz, you had bebop, you had soul, R&B, then rock and roll, then heavy metal, then punk rock and then hip hop. So what connects us all is a spirit, it’s not a guitar, because rock n roll wasn’t even started with a guitar, it was started with a piano. It was started with horn sections. That’s what rock and roll started with: Little Richard, Chubby Checker and Chuck Barry … so for somebody to come out and say we don’t belong, and they’re Johnny Come Latelys on the scene they damn self, then I just feel like they’re wrong about that.”

Still, Cube said he’s not sweating the diss.

“I respect Gene Simmons. He’s actually OG in the game,” he said. “But for the most part, he’s wrong on this subject. And I just think it’s wack for you to try to keep somebody out of the Hall of Fame, and they’ve got a 25-year career of earning it and the people have spoken. It’s nothing he could do to dampen my spirits about it, ’cause I really wasn’t worried about his opinion before he said it, so I’m not going to worry about it after he said it.”

Barbershop: The Next Cut hits theaters Friday, and you can listen to Sway’s Universe on Shade 45 (Ch. 45.)

For a free 30-day trial, check out http://www.siriusxm.com/freeTrial.