While waiting for the arrival of the future Knowles-Carter heirs, Jay Z made history on Thursday night when he was the first hip-hop artist to ever be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Brooklyn rapper, who was introduced by none other than friend and former President Barack Obama via video at the ceremony, logged onto his Twitter account to go on a rare and emotion-fueled social media spree after receiving the honor.
Hov thanked more than 90 rappers for inspiring him, from icons like Biggie and Tupac to younger artists like Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar. As Hov continued, he paid homage to more icons like Lauryn Hill and Queen Latifah as well as contemporaries like Kanye West and former rival Nas. Even Obama and wife Beyoncé got a shoutout in the tweetstorm, which Jay (who’s proven himself to be more of an Instagram husband than an avid Twitter user) admitted was a little challenging to do since he was “new on this” and the app is “impossible to get right.” He also assured his fans that he wasn’t drunk, just full of feelings and closed with the sentiment that “black people really magic.”
Read Jay’s emotional Twitter spree below.
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Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com