Beyoncé, Usher, OutKast and More Join the Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame

The Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame — a new initiative created by the Georgia Entertainment Caucus and the Black American Music Association — inducted its first 12 celebrities in a ceremony at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta earlier this week.

Within the inaugural class, Beyoncé, OutKast, Missy Elliott, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Sean Combs, Usher, Shirley Caesar and Kirk Franklin received plaques that are expected to be planted on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive near the intersection of Northside Drive in the Georgia city.

“People always say that this is Black Hollywood, so why do we not have Hollywood squares to celebrate our Blackness? It’s so important that today we make history,” Georgia State Representative Erica Thomas told Atlanta Magazine.

The commemorative endeavor was started by Thomas and BMI’s Catherine Brewton, both of whom established the Georgia Entertainment Caucus in 2019, in partnership with Black American Music Association leaders Michael T. Mauldin and Demmette Guidry.

“In the same way that Atlanta has influenced the civil rights movement, and we continue to set the bar so very high, we know that we continue to influence music,” said Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom at the inaugural ceremony. “I am so appreciative to the Black American Music Association and the Georgia Entertainment Caucus for coming up with this incredible idea.”

In other music news, Migos released a deluxe edition for Culture III with five new tracks.