“Ladies and gentlemen. Let’s put our hands together for this dynasty!” – for Jay-Z’s Blueprint album has been inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.
Released on September 11, 2011, the same day as the fatal terror attacks in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., the certified double platinum selling album is highly regarded as one of the most critically acclaimed hip-hop albums of all time.
“The National Recording Registry honors the music that enriches our souls, the voices that tell our stories and the sounds that mirror our lives,” said the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, in a statement released on Wednesday.
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“The influence of recorded sound over its nearly 160-year history has been profound and technology has increased its reach and significance exponentially. The Library of Congress and its many collaborators are working to preserve these sounds and moments in time, which reflect our past, present and future.”
Being the most contemporary recording among the 25 titles that were inducted for the year 2018, the Library said the album solidified Hov’s “reputation as one of the greatest rappers in music.”
“‘The Blueprint’ demonstrates Jay-Z’s range, from battle raps throwing shade on his lyrical adversaries such as Nas and Prodigy of Mob Deep, to triumphant anthems about life at the top, to heartfelt examinations of his personal history,” the statement also added.
Every year, new titles that are, at least, a decade old and are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” are selected by the Librarian of Congress with assistance from the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB).
This year’s new recordings add to a total number of 525 titles in the National Recording Registry, the statement said.
Other notable recordings that were also inducted include Sam and Dave’s 1967 single “Soul Man, Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly”, which was released in 1972 as soundtrack for the movie, as well as, Nina Simone’s 1964 single “Mississippi Goddam”, which was a tribute to assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers and the young girls that were killed in the bombing at the 16th Street Baptist church in Alabama.
Take a look at the full list of the 2018 National Recording Registry below:
- Yiddish Cylinders from the Standard Phonograph Company of New York and the Thomas Lambert Company (c. 1901-1905)
- “Memphis Blues” (single), Victor Military Band (1914)
- Melville Jacobs Collection of Native Americans of the American Northwest (1929-1939)
- “Minnie the Moocher” (single), Cab Calloway (1931)
- “Bach Six Cello Suites” (album), Pablo Casals (c. 1939)
- “They Look Like Men of War” (single), Deep River Boys (1941)
- “Gunsmoke” — Episode: “The Cabin” (Dec. 27, 1952)
- Ruth Draper: Complete recorded monologues, Ruth Draper (1954-1956)
- “La Bamba” (single), Ritchie Valens (1958)
- “Long Black Veil” (single), Lefty Frizzell (1959)
- “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Vol. 1: The Early Years” (album), Stan Freberg (1961)
- “GO” (album), Dexter Gordon (1962)
- “War Requiem” (album), Benjamin Britten (1963)
- “Mississippi Goddam” (single), Nina Simone (1964)
- “Soul Man” (single), Sam & Dave (1967)
- “Hair” (original Broadway cast recording) (1968)
- Speech on the Death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy (April 4, 1968)
- “Sweet Caroline” (single), Neil Diamond (1969)
- “Superfly” (album), Curtis Mayfield (1972)
- “Ola Belle Reed” (album), Ola Belle Reed (1973)
- “September” (single), Earth, Wind & Fire (1978)
- “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” (single), Sylvester (1978)
- “She’s So Unusual” (album), Cyndi Lauper (1983)
- “Schoolhouse Rock!: The Box Set” (1996)
- “The Blueprint” (album), Jay-Z (2001)
