Obama and rap: blessing or curse?

Obama and rap: blessing or curse?

Reuters has a story today pondering whether Barack Obama’s fondness for rap music, and being endorsed by popular rappers, will be a positive or a negative for his campaign.

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama listens to hip-hop, knows many of the genre’s moguls, such as Jay-Z, Russell Simmons and rapper Ludacris, admires their business acumen and has been endorsed by them.

That support could be a blessing for the 47-year-old Democratic candidate as he appeals to young voters.

Or it could be a curse, with links to hip-hop’s “gangsta” image and offering ammunition for the supporters of Republican rival U.S. Sen. John McCain.

“Hip-hop’s public image makes it a hot potato,” said Bakari Kitwana, of the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. “People don’t know what it is so they equate it with hyper-sexuality, violence and drug culture.”

“People on the right can always say this doesn’t represent family values and they can make these negative associations with hip-hop that then Barack or any other candidate is put in a position to defend,” said Kitwana, who is publishing a book in September on organizing a hip-hop voting bloc.

Hip-hop music began in New York’s South Bronx in 1970s and has grown into an industry worth billions of dollars with mass appeal beyond its black and Hispanic roots.

Activists broadly define a so-called “hip-hop generation” as Americans mostly aged 18 to 29. There is no data showing how many of the millions of those voters identify with hip-hop.

A March poll by the bipartisan “Rock the Vote” found 47 percent of young voters support Obama, with 28 percent backing the 71-year-old McCain. The hip-hop activists believe a majority of the “hip-hop generation” back Obama.

Obama, who would be the first black president, has criticized some hip-hop songs.

“I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics, but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music,” he told Rolling Stone magazine.

Well, I can give Reuters the answer right now. Courting rappers and the hip-hop industry would be a horrible move for Barack Obama. He should stay as far away from it as possible. Why? Because by and large, hip-hop is comprised of some of the filthiest, most disgusting crap ever to be labeled as music. But don’t just take my word for it. I’ll actually show you.

Let’s use the examples that Reuters gave us. I’ll start with Jay-Z first. He’s got a long discography, so I picked a song that he won a Grammy for. It’s called Big Pimpin’. Here’s the first and second verses:

You know I – thug em, f*ck em, love em, leave em
Cause I don’t f*ckin need em
Take em out the hood, keep em lookin good
But I don’t f*ckin feed em
First time they fuss I’m breezin
Talkin bout, “What’s the reasons?”
I’m a pimp in every sense of the word, bitch
Better trust than believe em
In the cut where I keep em
til I need a nut, til I need to beat the guts
Then it’s, beep beep and I’m pickin em up
Let em play with the d*ck in the truck
Many chicks wanna put Jigga fist in cuffs
Divorce him and split his bucks
Just because you got good head, I’ma break bread
so you can be livin it up? Shit I..
parts with nothin, y’all be frontin
Me give my heart to a woman?
Not for nothin, never happen
I’ll be forever mackin
Heart cold as assassins, I got no passion
I got no patience
And I hate waitin..
Hoe get yo’ ass in
And let’s RI-I-I-I-I-IDE.. check em out now
RI-I-I-I-I-IDE, yeah
And let’s RI-I-I-I-I-IDE.. check em out now
RI-I-I-I-I-IDE, yeah

N*gga it’s the – big Southern rap impresario
Comin straight up out the black bar-rio
Makes a mill’ up off a sorry hoe
Then sit back and peep my sce-nawr-e-oh
Oops, my bad, that’s my scenario
No I can’t f*ck a scary hoe
Now every time, every place, everywhere we go
Hoes start pointin – they say, “There he go!”
Now these motherf*ckers know we carry mo’ heat than a little bit
We don’t pull it out over little shit
And if you catch a lick when I spit, then it won’t be a little hit
Go read a book you illiterate son of a bitch and step up yo’ vocab
Don’t be surprised if yo’ hoe stab out with me
and you see us comin down on yo’ slab
Livin ghetto-fabulous, so mad, you just can’t take it
But n*gga if you hatin I
then you wait while I get yo’ bitch butt-naked, just break it
You gotta pay like you weigh wet wit two pairs of clothes on
Now get yo’ ass to the back as I’m flyin to the track
Timbaland let me spit my pro’s on
Pump it up in the pro-zone
That’s the track that we breakin these hoes on
Ain’t the track that we flow’s on
But when shit get hot, then the glock start poppin like ozone
We keep hoes crunk like Trigger-man
Fo’ real it don’t get no bigger man
Don’t trip, let’s flip, gettin throwed on the flip
Gettin blowed with the motherf*ckin Jigga Man, fool

Yes, he did actually win a Grammy for that. Charming, huh? Let’s move on to Ludacris now. Word of Mouf was his second album, which was nominated for a Grammy. One song, Roll Out, was also nominated for a Grammy. Here are some of the lyrics:

I got my twin glock .40s, cocked back
Me and my homies, so drop that
We rollin on twenties, with the top back
So much money, you can’t stop that
Twin glock .40s, cocked back
Me and my homies, so drop that
We rollin on twenties, with the top back
So much money, you can’t stop that

Are you custom-made, custom-paid, or you just custom-fitted?
Playstation 2 up in the ride and is that Lorenzo-kitted?
Is that your wife, your girlfriend or just your main bitch?
You take a pick, while I’m rubbin the hips, touchin lips to the top of the d*ck and then whewwww!
Now tell me who’s your housekeeper and what you keep in your house?
What about diamonds and gold, is that what you keep in your mouth?
What in the world is in that CASE, what you got in that CASE?
Get up out my face, you couldn’t relate, wait to take place at a similar pace
So shake, shake it

Get out my business, my biznass
Stay the f*ck up out my biznass, ah
‘Cause these n*ggas all up in my shit and it’s my business,
my biznass
Stay the f*ck up out my biznass, ’cause it’s mine, oh mine
My business, my biznass
Stay the f*ck up out my biznass
‘Cause these n*ggas all up in my shit…….[fade]

Then there’s Russell Simmons, founder of Def Jam Records. Artists signed to Def Jam include Run D.M.C., LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, Cam’ron, DMX, Public Enemy, Foxy Brown, Chingy, Ghostface Killah, Jadakiss, Method Man, Nas, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, and Trick Daddy.

Barack Obama is right. It’s real “genius” there. That really does shift our culture. I get that music always has and likely always will push the envelope. But when the vast majority of artists use lyrics that constantly invoke graphic sex, drugs, and violence, not to mention countless arrests and glorification of “thug life”, why on Earth would someone who is running for President want to embrace that? There’s a point when you go too far. And rap is too far. Liberals can blather on all they want about the “youth vote”, but the youth won’t decide this election. It’ll be white middle-class voters who decide this election, as always, because there are simply more of them voting. And they don’t appreciate the “genius” of lyrics like: “Rip the pants, and rip the shirt, ruff sex, make it hurt” (Ludacris, What’s Your Fantasy?).

Russell Simmons says that hip-hop rebuilt Tommy Hilfiger and Versace, and there’s no reason why they can’t do the same for Obama, “like they do for Coke or Pepsi”. But this isn’t a clothing line. This isn’t a marketing campaign for a soda. This is an election to decide the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world. And if that man cannot see why rap is so vile and degrading, if his values are that skewed and lacking, then how can he possibly lead a country founded on Judeo-Christian values?

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4 Comments
  • …pondering whether Barack Obama’s fondness for rap music, and being endorsed by popular rappers, will be a positive or a negative for his campaign.

    Negative.

    If Obama has any weakness at all, it is this: ZERO converts to his cause between now and election day. Everyone who’s ever gonna like him already likes him.

    And if we’re discussing people of all races who identify with rap music, that’s doubly true. Take a look at all the Obama supporters you can find today, you’re looking at all the Obama supporters there are ever gonna be. By showcasing any kind of affiliation with or appreciation for rap music, Sen. Obama has absolutely, positively, nothing, zip, zero, zilch, nada, bubkes to gain. But then again, there isn’t anything he can do anywhere else to gain anything. He is at his zenith.

  • CaptDMO says:

    That’s not true Morgan. Angelina Jolie announced to (whoever bothered to ask her)that she hasn’t officially made up her mind yet, and we all KNOW how those damned kids these days are likely to embarrass their parents by any means necessary.

    That’s ONE definite maybe.

  • Zordran says:

    That confirms it: Ludacris plays D&D. If he were a fan of White Wolf, he’d be rollin’ on tens.

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