Q-Tip named Kennedy Center's first hip hop director

Before last year, Kennedy Center hosting hip hop shows seemed like an unlikely prospect.

But after hosting Kendrick Lamar's sold-out performance with the National Symphony Orchestra last year, the center's 2016 season includes its first hip hop culture series, bringing on rapper and producer Q-Tip as their first artistic director of hip hop.

The social justice-oriented rapper is best known as a founding member of the seminal hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, and has worked with a laundry list of the genre's biggest names, including Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, the Beastie Boys, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige and Pharrell.

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The Kennedy Center, which celebrates John F. Kennedy's 100th birthday this year, announced details of six events celebrating different facets of hip hop culture, including a poetry slam, a teach-in and a dance competition. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and soprano Renee Fleming were also appointed at-large artistic advisers for the 2016-2017 season, according to the AP.

"This new programmatic platform recognizes Hip Hop’s contributions to global culture and its role in promoting values such as courage, freedom, justice, and service," the center announced in a release.

"Hip hop culture authentically promotes these values through five core elements—deejaying, emceeing, breakdancing, graffiti writing, and knowledge of self—carrying with them the power to build and transform communities through art and action. With this new offering, the Center also aims to increase opportunities for community involvement and participation within its programs."