Hip-Hop and Barack Obama

 by Jordan Wendt
 published on Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Hip-hop has officially embraced Barack Obama, or "B-Rock" as "Vibe" magazine likes to call him.

Besides being on the cover of "Vibe" last September, rap verses are often mentioning the presidential hopeful.

Chi-city rapper Common's single "The People" has a line dedicated to Obama. Talib Kweli's "Say Something" gives props to Obama with the verse, "Speak to the people like Barack Obama." And Asian-American rapper Jin has a whole song dedicated to Obama that can be heard on his MySpace profile, www.myspace.com/therealjin.

In January, Obama appeared in the BET special "What's In It for Us?" The one-on-one interview with Obama covered topics of race, education and immigration. The last segment of the interview was devoted to questions about hip-hop.

In the special, Obama said he believes hip-hop could be used as a vehicle to express political ideas to the younger generation. "I've met with Jay-Z. I've met with Kanye," he said. "And I've talked to other artists about how potentially to bridge that gap."

But Obama said he understands the message behind hip-hop music is not always positive. "There are times, even with the artists I've named, the artists I love, that there is a message that is degrading to women and uses the N-word a little too frequently," he said in a BET interview. He also expressed concern regarding the materialistic nature of many hip-hop songs.

No word yet on Hillary's hip-hop preferences, but keep an ear open. She's probably an Immortal Technique fan.

Reach the reporter at: jtwendt@asu.edu.