Congratulations to Jay Z (real name Shawn Carter)! The 46-year-old rapper turned mogul has a chance to make musical history. On Thursday, recipe he was the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Other performing songwriters nominated include Madonna, search George Michael, Cat Stevens, Jeff Lynne, Sly Stone, Gloria Estefan, Bryan Adams, Vince Gill, Bread’s David Gates and the songwriting teams that make up the bands Chicago and Kool & The Gang.

Candidates are eligible after 20 years of writing music. This is the first year of eligibility for Jay Z, who issued his debut album Reasonable Doubt in 1996.

The final group of five individual writers or writing teams will be inducted in a ceremony to be held in New York on June 15.