Jay Z has become the first rapper ever to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame saying that “This is a win for us“.

This June in New York, Jay Z will become the first rapper in history to be inducted to the highly regarded Songwriters Hall of Fame. His induction was announced by Nile Rodgers of Chic on Wednesday, who said that Jay Z’s induction was “massive. He has changed the way that we listen to music. He’s changed the way that we have fun.”

Speaking on his induction into the Hall of Fame for celebrating exceptional artists’ songwriting, Jay Z said: “This is a win for us. I remember when rap was said to be a fad. We are now alongside some of the greatest writers in history.” Jay Z will join fellow 2017 inductees Max Martin, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Berry Gordy, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Robert Lamm, James Pankow and Peter Cetera of Chicago.

The Hall of Fame’s co-chairs Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, along with president Linda Moran, said: “With our 2017 roster of inductees, the Songwriters Hall of Fame moves definitely into recognising music creators of the 21st century while continuing to honour the greats of earlier decades. The songwriters we honour cross genres, regional and even national boundaries. We are thrilled to once more have the opportunity to preside over an event that recognises the convergence of songcraft and musical performance at the very highest level.”

According to Moran and Nile Rodgers though, it was a hard process to get Jay Z inducted which Rodgers put down to: “even though he’s had more pop albums than anyone else… he did it through rap.” Moran also said to the New York Times: “To be honest with you, last year we talked about it a lot. Our board and community wasn’t ready. This year we felt that they had been educated enough.”

Moran added that Jay Z was “over the moon” when he received the news, saying: “He was flipping out, he was going crazy.”