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JAY-Z’s The Blueprint to Be Archived in Library of Congress

Songs performed by Jay-Z, Cyndi Lauper and a Robert F. Kennedy speech are among 25 recordings being inducted to the National Recording Registry.

The Library of Congress announced Wednesday that “La Bamba,” ″Gunsmoke” and “Hair” are some of the titles tapped for preservation this year. The national library chose a few more memorable titles including Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” and Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man.”

The registry is adding Kennedy’s recorded speech after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination — two months before Kennedy was killed.

Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly,” Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual” and Jay-Z’s “Blueprint” album are being added.

Other songs being added include Nina Simon’s “Mississippi Goddam,” Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Schoolhouse Rock!”

The library selects titles for preservation because of their cultural and historic importance to the American soundscape.

The full list of 2019 inductees into the Registry:

1. Yiddish Cylinders from the Standard Phonograph Company of New York and the Thomas Lambert Company (c. 1901-1905)

2. “Memphis Blues” (single), Victor Military Band (1914)

3. Melville Jacobs Collection of Native Americans of the American Northwest (1929-1939)

4. “Minnie the Moocher” (single), Cab Calloway (1931)

5. “Bach Six Cello Suites” (album), Pablo Casals (c. 1939)

6. “They Look Like Men of War” (single), Deep River Boys (1941)

7. “Gunsmoke” — Episode: “The Cabin” (Dec. 27, 1952)

8. Ruth Draper: Complete recorded monologues, Ruth Draper (1954-1956)

9. “La Bamba” (single), Ritchie Valens (1958)

10. “Long Black Veil” (single), Lefty Frizzell (1959)

11. “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Vol. 1: The Early Years” (album), Stan Freberg (1961)

12. “GO” (album), Dexter Gordon (1962)

13. “War Requiem” (album), Benjamin Britten (1963)

14. “Mississippi Goddam” (single), Nina Simone (1964)

15. “Soul Man” (single), Sam & Dave (1967)

16. “Hair” (original Broadway cast recording) (1968)

17. Speech on the Death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy (April 4, 1968)

18. “Sweet Caroline” (single), Neil Diamond (1969)

19. “Superfly” (album), Curtis Mayfield (1972)

20. “Ola Belle Reed” (album), Ola Belle Reed (1973)

21. “September” (single), Earth, Wind & Fire (1978)

22. “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” (single), Sylvester (1978)

23. “She’s So Unusual” (album), Cyndi Lauper (1983)

24. “Schoolhouse Rock!: The Box Set” (1996)

25. “The Blueprint” (album), Jay-Z (2001)

Source: AP

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