LL COOL J will be the first hip-hop artist to receive a Kennedy Center honor later this year.

He will be awarded alongside musician Lionel Richie cheap onitsuka tiger mexico mid runner , singer Gloria Estefan, TV writer Normal Lear and dancer Carmen de Lavallade.

The awards annually celebrate arts figures for their contributions to U.S. culture.

LL Cool J tweeted: “To be the first rap artist honored by the @kencen is beyond anything I could have imagined.”

He added: “Dreams don’t have deadlines. God is great.”

At 49, he ties with Stevie Wonder as the youngest artist to receive the honor.

Set to take place Dec. 3 in the Kennedy Center Opera House, this will be the first ceremony to take place under President Trump.

As is the tradition, the president and first lady will have dinner with the honorees and a White House reception followed by a range of performances in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

LL Cool J, less commonly known as James Todd Smith cheap onitsuka tiger canvas , told The Washington Post: “I am blown away. This is the biggest musical award you can receive. To be recognized by your country, and to be able to represent hip-hop as an art form is amazing. I’m surprised, grateful, humbled and honored.”

Lear, who created 1970s sitcoms including “All in the Family,” told the New York Times he would not be attending the ceremony: “This is a presidency that has chosen to neglect totally the arts and humanities — deliberately defund them — and that doesn’t rest pleasantly with me.”

But LL Cool J said he wouldn’t be put off.

“I don’t have any stunts planned. I’m not saying I need to be there backslapping and all of that cheap onitsuka tiger serrano , but this time, this one ain’t about him,” he said, referring to President Trump.

He continued: “I’m not going to block my blessings or let the political divide stop me from embracing my art. I’m banking on the goodness and the optimism of people to say: ‘You know what? I get it. Let this guy have this honor’.”

LL Cool J is no stranger to accolades and awards having won two Grammys for best rap solo performance in 1992 and 1997 and four NAACP Image Awards for his role as special agent Sam Hanna in NCIS: Los Angeles.

ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) have vowed to further strengthen their collaboration towards the development and prosperity of Africa.

This has come at a time when the newly appointed Executive Secretary of ECA, Vera Songwe asics gt cool express , met and held talks with the Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission, Thomas Kwesi Quartey, according to a statement from ECA on Monday.

Marking her second day in office, the new ECA chief on Friday met and held talks with representatives of the AU Commission (AUC), the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation, and with the dean of the diplomatic corps in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

Stating that the AU Commission has had great working relations with ECA over the past years asics gel sight , the Deputy Chairperson has expressed that the pan-African bloc is keen towards more collaboration with ECA.

"We look forward to absolute cooperation with you and your team," he has told the ECA chief.

The two sides have discussed education, migration, industrialization, the AU Reform, domestic resource mobilization and other issues pertinent to Africa's transformation.

The ECA Executive Secretary expressed her commitment to carrying on with the good working relations between the two institutions cheap asics gel scram 3 , stating, "having the ECA and AU working closely together makes for a wealth of knowledge and great potential to change the continent."

She has also expressed her desire to see more space for women in the AU agenda.

Songwe, who arrived in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa Wednesday, was appointed earlier this year by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, and took over from former Executive Secretary cheap asics gel saga , Carlos Lopes.

The Cameroonian economist and banking executive is the first woman to ever serve the post, and she officially took office last Thursday.

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