Rapper LL Cool J has become the first hip-hop artist ever honoured at the Kennedy Center, where he was feted for his contributions to American culture.
The 49-year-old was celebrated Sunday alongside singers Gloria Estefan and Lionel Richie, as well as TV producer Norman Lear and dancer Carmen de Lavallade, at the first Kennedy Center ceremony under U.S. President Donald Trump.
At the ceremony, LL Cool J called the honour "an amazing, amazing moment."
The rapper’s diverse career has spanned three decades of music and on-screen work, from his early successes with songs such as “Can’t Live Without My Radio” and “Bad,” to film roles in the 2000s, to a recurring gig on the long-running TV show “NCIS.”
“He really is a pioneer of that 360-degree kind of career,” Casey Rae, music licensing director for SiriusXM Radio, told CTV News Channel on Sunday.
Rae hailed LL Cool J not only for putting together a diverse career, but for evolving over the years to remain relevant through various shifts in pop culture.
Kennedy Center chairman David Rubenstein hailed the rapper’s contribution to music last summer, saying that he “taught the world how to rhyme as one of the pioneers of the hip hop phenomenon.”
With files from The Associated Press
