“Black President” by Nas is dope, though, especially when compared to this half-assed song. And Nas couldn’t even save that boring beat. When it made sense, it wasn’t even a positive message – just a mess of thug talk and commercial blah blah blah with some Obama’s thrown in. I dig the sentiment and love the fact that the crowd was so diverse, but YJ’s lyrics were lame. Jeezy went hard on this and Nas blazed that joint But at their best, both hip-hop and Obama allow us to traverse those unsettled lands within us, and give us faith that we can make our way back to the world in one piece.42 Responses to “Young Jeezy “My President is black” video, featuring Nas”ĭamn! thats history in the making right there. Frankly, Obama may not utter a word about hip-hop for the rest of his presidency. Should we expect a guest appearance from Obama on Drake's follow up album? No. But the Obama connection is more than visual, as Drake's music mixes lamentation and glorification of the trappings of fame with reflections about faded romance and his parents' break-up.
First and foremost, the designers were looking to capitalize on a saleable and widely recognizable image from popular culture. It is more than coincidence that Drake's cover art for Thank Me Later is a derivative of Shepard Fairey's iconic " HOPE" poster from the Obama campaign. and Tupac explaining why thugs cry, to Jay-Z's raps about "Big Pimpin'" and the pain of a fatherless childhood, to Kanye's self-loathing and naked arrogance, to Nas's "I Can" celebration of American individualism, delivered with heavy with black nationalist undertones. This multiple subjectivity is everywhere in hip-hop-from Notorious B.I.G. But with the administration's recent bipartisan policy successes and his riveting, perfectly calibrated speech about the tragedy in Arizona, Obama's ability to speak more than one political language now enhances his glow. Where governance is concerned, it used to be fashionable to scoff at Obama's penchant for considering multiple viewpoints at the same time, as liberals and conservatives alike chided him for trying to please too many people. He wept during a speech the day before the election, stricken with grief over his grandmother's death. In his two books, Dreams From My Father (1995) and The Audacity of Hope (2006), Obama candidly discusses his struggle to reconcile his relationship with his absent father, arrive at a comfortable racial identity, accept Christianity, and manage his family life. Obama's story fits within this paradigm, where exposing inner conflict is part and parcel of cool performance.
The worst commercial hip-hop glorifies sexism and conspicuous consumption, but many of the most popular rappers give voice to the dissonance within each of us. Part of what makes hip-hop appealing is that performances often embody contradiction, allowing for the simultaneous expression of vulnerability and pride, and trumpeting countervailing beliefs and desires. Hip-hop's coolness is more complicated than mere trendiness, and it cannot be described as coolness in the traditional sense-unflappability. But even though Obama does not claim a hip-hop identity, there are elements that both hip-hop and Obama share. We have to guard against the sloppy racial reasoning that fuels pop-cultural romanticism. And second, though he might listen to rap on occasion, most of his "iPod probably is either jazz classics-Coltrane, Miles Davis-or it's got the songs of youth." In other words, Obama is not deeply invested in hip-hop practice or identity.įor these reasons, those critical of the hip-hop/Obama connection have a right to be upset. First, hip-hop deserves attention because it reflects and shapes reality, and we have to address the representations of sex and materialism that critics rightly object to. Despite "My President" and the fact that Obama's name continues to find its way into rap music, the president's public stance can be summed up in two basic statements, documented by legendary hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang. Lil Wayne?ĭuring his presidential campaign, Obama danced between the raindrops when the topic of hip-hop was raised, demonstrating pop cultural literacy without allowing himself to be cast as a representative of hip-hop culture. MORE ON THE HIP-HOP PRESIDENT: Roundtable: Eminem, Meet Obama Ta-Nehisi Coates: Obama as the End of Hip-Hop Culture Kevin Fallon: Obama's iPod Playlist: Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones.
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