Cyrus Langhorne
Music icon LL Cool J is out here making history. The hip-hop veteran has become the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime achievement in arts and pop culture in Washington, DC.
Cool James and a few other notable music legends celebrated their accomplishment last night (December 3) at the 40th Annual Kennedy Center Honors ceremony.
Queens native LL Cool J, whose real name is James Todd Smith, became the first artist billed as a rapper to be honored. Officials said he’s also the youngest-ever Kennedy Center Honors recipient at 49. “I am sharing with the hip hop community, I’m sharing this with the hip hop culture. What I’m not going to do is make this about me, this is really about the culture that I’m representing,” LL Cool J said. (CBS Local)
This past weekend, LL took to Instagram to celebrate the historic day.
Congrats to uncle L. I can’t believe he still has that four finger ring. It’s probably older than some of these new rappers.
“In the history of rap they’ve never seen such prominence
Your naive confidence gets crushed by my dominance”
Long Live James Todd Smith! Congratz L