On Thursday night, Jay Z became the first hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, though he wasn't actually there to accept the honor himself. Famous Jay Z fan and former POTUS Barack Obama inducted the rapper into the hall via a recorded video message, ETOnline reports, calling Jay Z a friend and pointing out he's a "first-time ballot Hall of Famer." Then—though his mother, grandmother, sisters, cousin, and quite a few friends were in attendance, and it seemed the rapper might show up himself—Jay's longtime friend and music publisher, Warner/Chappell CEO Jon Platt, gave the rapper's acceptance speech, Variety reports. "I can’t begin to tell you how much this honor means to me—I’m sorry," Platt said, laughing, "it’s not my award—I can’t begin to tell you how much this award means to Jay. He’s really sorry he can’t be here."
As for why he wasn't there, there was no official reason given, but rumors have been swirling that wife Beyonce has given birth (or is about to give birth) to the couple's twins. Rumors are also swirling that Obama himself gave a hint about the sex of those twins, USA Today reports, noting that he said, "Jay and I are also fools for our daughters, although he's gonna have me beat once those two twins show up." (You can watch Obama's full speech here.) Jay Z wasn't entirely absent from his big night, however; on Twitter, he issued a lengthy series of tweets thanking "all the people that have inspired me," and he kept adding more to the list with "wait," "s--- did I say...," "this s--- hard," and "too many f--- this. All you!" "Okay I'm done . I'm deleting this app in the morning . S--- is impossible to get right," he added toward the end. "I promise I'm not drunk." (More Jay Z stories.)
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