Jay-Z’s The Blueprint album to be inducted into National Recording Registry

The Library announced the batch of recordings that will be preserved for future generations to come with 25 recordings on the list.

Music from across all genres is picked for preservation as they represent the “cultural, historic and aesthetic importance to the nation’s recorded sound heritage.”

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden says:“The National Recording Registry honours the music that enriches our souls, the voices that tell our stories and the sounds that mirror our lives. The influence of recorded sound over its nearly 160-year history has been profound and technology has increased its reach and significance exponentially. The Library of Congress and its many collaborators are working to preserve these sounds and moments in time, which reflect our past, present and future.”

The rest of the 2018 class includes notables such as legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon’s GO, Sam and Dave’s 1967 single Soul Man, and Nina Simone’s 1964 single Mississippi Goddam, the latter of which was in tribute to civil rights activist Medgar Evers following his murder, as well as the four little girls who were killed in the 16th Street Baptist church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.

Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly, the titular single from the film’s soundtrack, made the list, as well.

See the full list below:

2018 National Recording Registry

• Yiddish Cylinders from the Standard Phonograph Company of New York and the Thomas Lambert Company (c. 1901-1905)
• “Memphis Blues” (single), Victor Military Band (1914)
• Melville Jacobs Collection of Native Americans of the American Northwest (1929-1939)
• “Minnie the Moocher” (single), Cab Calloway (1931)
• Bach Six Cello Suites (album), Pablo Casals (c. 1939)
• “They Look Like Men of War” (single), Deep River Boys (1941)
• Gunsmoke — Episode: “The Cabin” (Dec. 27, 1952)
• Ruth Draper: Complete recorded monologues, Ruth Draper (1954-1956)
• “La Bamba” (single), Ritchie Valens (1958)
• “Long Black Veil” (single), Lefty Frizzell (1959)
• Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Vol. 1: The Early Years (album), Stan Freberg (1961)
• GO (album), Dexter Gordon (1962)
• War Requiem (album), Benjamin Britten (1963)
• “Mississippi Goddam” (single), Nina Simone (1964)
• “Soul Man” (single), Sam & Dave (1967)
• Hair (original Broadway cast recording) (1968)
• Speech on the Death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy (April 4, 1968)
• “Sweet Caroline” (single), Neil Diamond (1969)
• Superfly (album), Curtis Mayfield (1972)
• Ola Belle Reed (album), Ola Belle Reed (1973)
• “September” (single), Earth, Wind & Fire (1978)
• “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” (single), Sylvester (1978)
• She’s So Unusual (album), Cyndi Lauper (1983)
• Schoolhouse Rock!: The Box Set (1996)
• The Blueprint (album), Jay-Z (2001)