In just his first year of eligibility, “Brooklyn’s finest,” Jay-Z, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Saturday night among a class that included The Go-Go’s, Carole King, Tina Turner, Todd Rundgren, and Foo Fighters.
But only a hip-hop legend of his caliber, who’s been a driving force in the music industry for over two decades, was honored with a speech by a former president. Barack Obama, who previously paid tribute to Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter when he became the first rapper in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, delivered moving remarks about how Jay-Z’s music has served as a soundtrack to some of his most pivotal moments.
“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 in a taped video message. “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.”
