LL Cool J marked his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last night (October 30) with a medley of his songs, including a surprise appearance by Eminem for ‘Rock The Bells’.

The rapper started his performance with ‘Rock Around The Clock’ and ‘Going Back To Cali’ before Eminem joined him for ‘Rock The Bells’.

J-Lo also joined the rapper onstage for ‘All I Have’, and he rounded off the set with ‘I’m Bad’ and ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’.

LL Cool J was presented with the Musical Excellence Award by Dr Dre at the 36th annual induction ceremony, which was held at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. A pre-recorded telecast will air later this year on HBO and HBO Max [via Consequence].

The rapper was nominated to be inducted six times since 2010 before he was finally accepted into the institution this year.

LL Cool J performing w/ Eminem at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony pic.twitter.com/DFl7S4OmET

— 2Cool2Blog (@2cooI2blog) October 31, 2021

Eminem makes a surprise appearance to perform with LL Cool J pic.twitter.com/hSxqF2hYuG

— David Onda (@David_Onda) October 31, 2021

Part of his acceptance speech reads [via Rolling Stone]: “I’d like to thank all of the people who voted for LL to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame year after year. A lot people, when I told them when I told them I got inducted, they’d say to me, ‘Isn’t it is about time?’

“You see, what people don’t realise is, I wasn’t thinking about the people who voted against me. I was thinking about the people who voted for me. It was love. Like what I was feeling was, ‘Wow, here’s some people over there who won’t take no for an answer.’ They like, ‘Yo this guy got to be in here and we’re going to keep fighting for you till we get him in here.’ So I thank you. Other than that, Queens, of course, Harlem, uptown. Queens, I love you.

He concluded: “The last thing I’ll say is, rock and roll, hip-hop loves you. We borrow your beats. We sample ’em. We turn them into hits. And we know where we came from. We know where things come from….we love and appreciate you.”

J later wrote on Instagram that “this crew made my induction very special” alongside a photo of him posting with Eminem, Dre and J-Lo.

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Elsewhere, Barack Obama and Dave Chapelle helped induct Jay-Z into the Hall while Taylor Swift paid tribute to Carole King with a live performance of the iconic singer-songwriter’s track ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow?’

Paul McCartney also inducted the Foo Fighters and performed The Beatles’ ‘Get Back’ with the band.