Jay Z has become the first hip-hop artist to make it into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Jay Z was presented with the award by U.S’s first black president Barack Obama. As mentioned in his speech, the two share a lot of similarities and share what Obama termed as special type of friendship.
The most outstanding and immediate thing that perhaps the two have in common is the fact that neither of the two was physically present at the event. Obama used a prerecorded video to give his speech. Obama name and passed a message of congratulations to all the inductees before he finally turned to Jay Z who he termed as “a true America original.” “I like to think Mr. Carter and I understand each other,” Obama said. “Nobody who met us when we were younger men would have expected us to be where we are today.” Obama went on to highlight some of the problems that affect both of them who how, in their own ways managed to overcome them.
Obama admitted that they are both family men and so much into their daughters. In reference to Beyoncé acknowledged the close relationship she has with Michelle Obama adding that the two even seem to be more popular than Obama himself and Jay Z.
It is particularly interesting and surprising to see Obama speaking about Jay Z. The two are not only close friends, but have a lot of respect for each other. Obama admitted that he could be the only U.S president who brought Jay Z’s music to the Oval Office. He also admitted sampling several of Jay Z’s lyrics to use in many of his speeches. “My President,” in which Jay Z raps, “Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walk/Martin Luther walked so Barack Obama could run/Barack Obama ran so all the children could fly.” Additionally, in a tweet, Obama said he used several of Jay z’s lyrics while putting final State of the Union address. He closed by saying he drew a lot of inspiration in what Jay Z said about initiating change and staying true to oneself.
