Jay Z will become the first rapper ever inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, producer and guitarist Nile Rodgers revealed Wednesday on CBS This Morning. "He's changed the way we listen to music, he's changed the way we have fun, the way that we cry," Rodgers said, calling Jay Z a "revolutionary."
The 21-time Grammy winner is in the 2017 class of inductees alongside Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Max Martin, Robert Lamm, James Pankow, and Peter Cetera. Madonna, George Michael, and Cat Stevens were among the nominated artists who didn't make the cut.
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Artists become eligible for the Hall of Fame 20 years after their first hit; Jay Z's first was his 1996 album Reasonable Doubt. Though Jay Z was nominated last year, he wasn't selected. "To be honest with you, last year we talked about it a lot," Moran told The New York Times. "Our board and community wasn't ready. This year we felt that they had been educated enough."
The induction ceremony is slated for June 15 at the Marriott Marquis in New York.
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