“The most innovative and powerful art the world has ever known.”

President Obama has declared June 2016 ‘African-American Music Appreciation Month’ in a presidential proclamation.

“A vital part of our Nation’s proud heritage,” he wrote, “African-American music exemplifies the creative spirit at the heart of American identity and is among the most innovative and powerful art the world has ever known.”

The president, whose favourite song of 2015 was Kendrick Lamar’s ‘How Much A Dollar Cost’, has always repped black American musicians from the White House and in 2009 invited Beyonce to sing ‘At Last’ at his inauguration. Watch a video of that below. Michelle Obama is also a music fan, having enlisted Missy Elliott, Janelle Monáe and Kelly Clarkson for her ‘This Is For My Girls’ song in March this year.

He said “songs by African-American musicians “span the breadth of the human experience,”  “animating our bodies, stimulating our imaginations, and nourishing our souls” and adds that “these artists speak to universal human emotion and the restlessness that stirs within us all.”

Obama also called upon “public officials, educators, and people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate activities and programs that raise awareness and foster appreciation of music that is composed, arranged, or performed by African Americans.”