Tupac Shakur’s song, “Dear Mama,” was inducted into the Library of Congress’ Recording Registry, which preserves “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” recordings that are at least 10 years old. The Library of Congress called the 1995 hit “a moving and eloquent homage to both the murdered rapper’s own mother and all mothers struggling to maintain a family in the face of addiction, poverty and societal indifference.”
“Dear Mama” marks only the third hip-hop recording in the Library of Congress following Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message” and Public Enemy’s album, Fear of a Black Planet. Little Richard’s 1955 hit “Tutti Frutti” and bluesman Howlin’ Wolf‘s 1956 single “Smokestack Lightning” were also among the 25 recordings inducted into the Library of Congress.