On Monday, Oct. 21, President Joe Biden handed out the National Medal of Arts and National Humanities honors at the White House. Among those recipients included Latifah and Missy Elliot, the first rappers to be given the honor.
People reports that Elliot took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her excitement of receiving the prestigious award, writing, “I am HUMBLY GRATEFUL! Crying Tears of JOY! Thinking of the days I wasn’t so strong but through FAITH & PRAYER I kept going.”
“And a BiG CONGRATS to my sis @IAMQUEENLATIFAH who deserve all the bouquets she also was honored today! Thank you for kicking down doors QUEEN for me & those after you,” the 53-year-old “Work It” emcee wrote in another post.
Read the amazing Queen Latifah cover story on DiversityComm’s LGBTQ+ Community here!
Elliot, the 2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee also made history this year by having the first hip-hop song transmitted to space. On July 12, 2024, NASA’s Deep Space Network sent her 1997 hit “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) to Venus. The only other song to have ever been sent that far was The Beatles’ “Across the Universe” in 2008.
The 2022 and 2023 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities honors were presented at the same ceremony after COVID-19 caused the original events to be postponed.
Among 2022’s recipients included Idina Menzel, Eva Longoria, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and a posthumous award to visual artist Ruth Asawa. Recipients for 2023 included filmmakers Ken Burns, Steven Spielberg and Spike Lee, film producer Bruce Cohen and singer Selena Quintanilla.
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, said in a statement on the National Medal of Arts’ website, “The arts enrich our lives, helping us to ask questions, imagine new possibilities, and create community.”
Jackson further noted that the recipients shared a “curiosity, creativity, hard work, and dedication” that “inspired and touched so many in our country and around the globe.” According to the NEA, the honorees were chosen for their “outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts in the United States.”
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