Guitar Center Inducts DJ Legends Into Hollywood 'RockWalk'

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — One of Hollywood's most famous rock-and-roll landmarks is going hip hop — at least for one day.

KNX 1070's Margaret Carrero reports some of the biggest pioneers in rap music cemented their legacy Thurdsay at the flagship Guitar Center store on Sunset Boulevard.

Grandmaster Flash, best known for the 1982 electro rap song "The Message", was among those artists inducted into the store's RockWalk museum, along with deejays Grand Wizzard Theodore and Grandmixer DXT.

While rap legends RUN-DMC joined hundreds of other acts already inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk in 2002, Thursday's inductees mark somewhat of a departure for RockWalk's board, which says the contributions to music history made by Grandmaster Flash and other deejay legends can no longer be ignored by the museum.

The museum also honored the 25th anniversary of the song "Parents Just Don't Understand" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, which ultimately launched the career of actor and musician Will Smith.

Jazzy Jeff, whose real name is Jeffrey Allen Townes, told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO the secret to making memorable music is just recognizing a certain feeling.

"I think the job of a good deejay is to take people on somewhat of a musical journey, you know, with stuff that they know, stuff that they don't, stuff that they haven't heard in a long time, and they walk out and say, 'That was amazing,'" said Townes.