Obama throws hip-hop “artist” Ludacris under a bus
Ludacris’s new song, “Politics as Usual,” may have cost him one of his biggest fans, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Obama, usually a Ludacris fan, was quick to distance himself Thursday.
“While Ludacris is a talented individual, he should be ashamed of these lyrics,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in an e-mail statement. He also called the song “outrageously offensive.” That Obama’s one-time praise for Ludacris has turned to scorn really is politics as usual, said John McWhorter, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Obama has spoken out against some of hip-hop’s stars before, but praised Ludacris and hip-hop icon Jay-Z as “great talents and great businessmen” in a recent Rolling Stone interview. “There’s no doubt that hip-hop culture moves our young people powerfully. And some of it is not just a reflection of reality,” he told Vibe magazine last August. “It also creates reality. I think that if all our kids see is a glorification of materialism and bling and casual sex and kids are never seeing themselves reflected as hitting the books and being responsible and delaying gratification, then they are getting an unrealistic picture of what the world is like.” (CBC)
Select lines from the song by the “great talent and great businessman” Ludacris:
I’m back on it like I just signed my record deal
Yeah the best is here, the Bentley Coup paint is dripping wet, it got sex appeal
Never should have hated
You never should’ve doubted him
With a slot in the president’s iPod Obama shattered ‘em
Said I handled his biz and I’m one of his favorite rappers
Well give Luda a special pardon if I’m ever in the slammer
Better yet put him in office, make me your vice president
Hillary hated on you, so that bitch is irrelevant
Paint the White House black and I’m sure that’s got ‘em terrified
McCain don’t belong in any chair unless he’s paralyzed
Yeah I said it cause Bush is mentally handicapped
Get out and vote or the end will be near
The world is ready for change because Obama is here!