The big guns really came out to celebrate Jay-Z being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, including President Barack Obama.
Jay-Z became one of the very few solo rappers to make the prestigious Hall of Fame, following The Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, and LL Cool J (also inducted this year).
And a star-studded list of tributes were lined up for his introduction, with Rihanna, Samuel L. Jackson, and controversial comic Dave Chappelle all gushing over Jay’s legacy.
In his own recording, Obama spoke of the rapper’s influence on the former President’s life. “I’ve turned to Jay-Z’s words at different points in my life, whether I was brushing dirt off my shoulder on the campaign trail, or sampling his lyrics on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of the Selma march to Montgomery,” Obama said.
“Today Jay-Z is one of the most renowned artists in history and an embodiment of the American dream, a dream he has helped make real for other young people like him. So let me be one of the first to welcome home the kid from Marcy houses … as an official Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.”
Obama has previous with paying tribute to Jay-Z. Back in 2017, he honoured the hip hop mogul during his induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. “I’m pretty sure I’m still the only President to listen to Jay Z’s music in the Oval Office,” he jokingly said then.
Chappelle, meanwhile, said of Jay-Z: “I’m honoured that I got a chance to know you. You embody Black excellence, how great we can be.”
Love Hip Hop?
Get the latest Hip Hop news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
After the introductions, the rapper also made an acceptance speech. “(We) were told hip-hop was a fad,” he said. “Much like punk rock, it gave us this anti-culture, this subgenera. And there were heroes in it.”
For more on this topic, follow the Hip Hop Observer.
https://twitter.com/BMcgeary/status/1454649550937993216?s=20
