Yahoo Lifestyle Missy Elliott Feels 'Humbly Grateful' to Receive National Medal of Arts at White House with Queen Latifah and Others
President Joe Biden honored 39 recipients for their "outstanding contributions" to the arts
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Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 21, 2024Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah can add "Presidential award recipient" to their resumes!
On Monday, Oct. 21, President Joe Biden handed out the National Medal of Arts and National Humanities honors at the White House. Among those recipients included Elliott and Latifah, the first rappers to be given the honor.
Elliott took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her excitement of receiving the prestigious award, writing, "I am HUMBLY GRATEFUL! Crying Tears of JOY! Thinking of the days I wasn’t so strong but through FAITH & PRAYER I kept going."
"And a BiG CONGRATS to my sis @IAMQUEENLATIFAH who deserve all the bouquets she also was honored today! Thank you for kicking down doors QUEEN for me & those after you," the 53-year-old "Work It" emcee wrote in another post.
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Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah in March 2003The 2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee also made history this year by having the first hip-hop song transmitted to space. On July 12, 2024, NASA's Deep Space Network sent her 1997 hit "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) to Venus. The only other song to have ever been sent that far was The Beatles' "Across the Universe" in 2008.
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Steven Spielberg in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 2024, Spike Lee in London on Feb. 13, 2024, and Ken Burns in New York on Sept. 25, 2024The 2022 and 2023 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities honors were presented at the same ceremony after COVID-19 caused the original events to be postponed.
Among 2022's recipients included Idina Menzel, Eva Longoria, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and a posthumous award to visual artist Ruth Asawa. Recipients for 2023 included filmmakers Ken Burns, Steven Spielberg and Spike Lee, film producer Bruce Cohen and singer Selena Quintanilla.
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Selena Quintanilla at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards on March 1, 1994Related: Bruce Springsteen, Gladys Knight, Mindy Kaling Among 22 Awarded Medal of Arts by Joe Biden
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, said in a statement on the National Medal of Arts' website, “The arts enrich our lives, helping us to ask questions, imagine new possibilities, and create community."
Jackson further noted that the recipients shared a "curiosity, creativity, hard work, and dedication" that "inspired and touched so many in our country and around the globe." According to the NEA, the honorees were chosen for their "outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts in the United States."
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