Jay Z became the first rapper to be nominated to the Songwriters Hall of Fame this weekend, when he was named as a potential 2017 candidate alongside Madonna, Bryan Adams, George Michael, Gloria Estefan, Cat Stevens, Sylvester “Sly Stone” Stewart, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, and Max Martin, Nigel Smith reports for the Guardian. That’s some serious competition in the pop hitmaker department, considering Max Martin alone has written 21 No.1 singles, but Jay Z’s chances aren’t too shabby given his insane output over a twenty-year career.
Jay Z Nominated for Hall of Fame
Liz Wood
Liz Wood is a writer and critic living in Cape Cod. She was a 2022 National Book Critics Circle Emerging Critics Fellow and a member of the NBCC 2023 and 2024 Greg Barrios Book in Translation Prize. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Words Without Borders, Electric Literature, and elsewhere.