LL Cool J will be the first hip hop artist honored by the Kennedy Center.
He said in a Facebook post: 'My late grandmother passed some wise advice to me: 'If a task is once begun, never leave it ‘til it’s done. Be thy labor great or small, do it well or not at all.' That adage has guided everything I have ever done in my life and I couldn't be more grateful because it has led me here. To be the first rap artist honored by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is beyond anything I could have imagined. I dedicate this honor to the hiphop artists who came before me and those who came after me. This simply proves that dreams don't have deadlines. God is great."