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(Good Culture) A few months before the 2008 election, the Queens-bred rapper Nas released his song “Black President,” hip-hop’s most direct ode supporting Barack Obama. The song invokes the famous campaign slogan “Yes We Can” and samples the title line from an early nineties 2Pac recording. Halfway through the track, Nas encapsulates what Obama means to him: “I think Obama provides hope and challenges minds / Of all races and colors to erase the hate / And try and love one another, so many political snakes / We in need of a break.”
Three years later, that hope has turned into disillusionment. MCs are still rhyming words with “Obama,” and their young fans aren’t likely to lend their support to the GOP anytime soon, but the fervor of 2008 has dimmed virtually every place you look. Obama’s nods in rap songs are no exception.
“The way he was interspersed with the hip hop industry and popular sentiment [was] very unique and in the moment,” says Bakari Kitwana, the former editor of The Source magazine. “It was Obama speaking a truth to power that hip-hop fully embraced. That sense of hope has since passed.”
For evidence, some rap musicologists have looked no further than rap songs themselves. Thomas Chatterton Williams, a commentator on hip-hop culture, says simply, “I don't hear as many references to him in lyrics.”
A search of RapGenius.com, which tracks and explains the lyrics to thousands of hip-hop songs, finds 184 songs mentioning “Obama,” 55 mentioning “Barack” and 24 with the exact phrase “black president.” Meanwhile, any combination of “George” and “Bush” show up only 75 times. Read Full Story at Good Culture
