Wale Becomes the First Rapper to Open a State of the Union Address [VIDEO]
President Barack Obama made history again as he enlisted Wale to open his last State of the Union address on Tuesday night (Jan. 12).
The D.C. native, who is the first rapper to ever perform prior to the SOTU, perform a short, 15-minute set before the speech. Wale performed a few hits like “Chillin’” and “LoveHate Thing" Afterwards, he went to Twitter to celebrate his announcement.
"Performed at the "State of the Union" .. #SOTU.. #shine on the universe . HipHop is limitless . Thank You @WhiteHouse @BarackObama," he tweeted. He even got in a selfie with Vice President Joe Biden’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden.
This is far from the first time the "Ride Out" rapper made it to The White House though. Last week, he was in the audience during President Obama's gun control announcement. Last year, he also performed at an event for Michelle Obama's “Reach Higher” initiative.
During President Obama's eight years, he's garnered a great relationship with hip-hop as well. Most recently, he invited Kendrick Lamar to the Oval Office where the two discussed issues of the inner cities.
Rappers like Common, Killer Mike, Queen Latifah, Doug E. Fresh, Ludacris, Jay Z and Big Sean also made their way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue during POTUS' two terms.
Hip-hop moguls were also sitting on the sidelines during the SOTU as well.
"Thank you Barack. Thank you. One more year to go. Let's get criminal justice reform done this year! #SOTO," tweeted Russell Simmons.
Just Blaze also took the time to respond to President Obama's haters. "Ask Osama bin Laden," read his response to presidential hopeful, Ted Cruz who said we're in a state of denial.
Check out Wale's latest performance below as well as some tweets surrounding the SOTU.