The latest Obama supporter to give the candidate agita is Ludacris, the Atlanta rapper born Christopher Bridges, whose new song "Politics (Obama Is Here)," is taken from a DJ Drama mixtape. The song says nasty things in rhyme about Hillary Clinton, who is referred to as the B word (albeit bleeped out), while John McCain and George W. Bush get strafed thusly: "McCain don't belong in any chair unless he's paralyzed/Yeah I said it, 'cause Bush is mentally handicapped, ball up all of his speeches and throw 'em like candy wrap/'Cause when you talking, I hear nothing even relevant/And you the worst of all 43 presidents."
The Obama camp was quick to call the Luda lyrics "outrageously offensive." Spokesman Bill Burton told Politico that "Ludacris is a talented individual, but he should be ashamed of these lyrics. As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn't want his daughters or any children exposed to."
Still, it's a bit of a sticky situation for the presumptive Democratic nominee, in part because he praised Ludacris in the past, calling the rapper, along with Russell Simmons and Jay-Z, "great talents and great businessmen," in a June Rolling Stone interview. That was the glowing cover story in which a fawning Jann Wenner got to the bottom of the what's-on-the-Obama-iPod story. (Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow and Yo-Yo Ma, it turns out, with added points for making a strong argument that Wonder's "run with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness’ First Finale and Innervisions, and then Songs in the Key of Life. ... are as brilliant a set of five albums as we’ve ever seen")
Luda's "Politics" is meant to be a Rap the Vote song (as well as an amusing plea for a reprieve should the MC ever end up on the wrong side of the law: "I'm one of his favorite rappers/Well give Luda a special pardon if I'm ever in the slammer"). But his exhortation over a beat lifted from Young Buck's "Get Buck" to "get off your ass, black people, it's time to get out and vote!/Paint the White House black, and I'm sure that's got 'em terrified" is surely not the message that Obama strategists appealing to white working class voters loyal to Clinton during the primary season want to put forth. And it comes just as the McCain campaign has accused Obama of playing the race card at a rally in Springfield, Mo. when Obama said his opponents are trying to "make you scared of me... He's got a funny name. He doesn't look like all those other Presidents on all those dollar bills."
On a related note, former New York Times pop music critic and now New Yorker staffer Kelefa Sanneh has an excellent piece in this week's magazine that speaks to the issue. It's about Tavis Smiley, Obama, and the tricky dance of attempting to court white voters without alienating black ones.
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