For another look at YouTube's hip-hop tributes to Obama, check out "MC in Chief."
PART 1: PARTY ANTHEMS
Should Barack Obama claim victory on November 4th – and as I write this, the polls are looking very much in his favour – the following tracks will provide a perfect backdrop for what will no doubt be some serious celebrating on November 5th (at least until everyone wakes up on November 6th realizing they still have that damn phone bill or mortgage hanging around their neck). Cross your fingers. I’m certainly crossing mine.
Digidoo and LadyFi, “Representin’ Obama”
Bleacher-beat bubble-hop from a still-in-their-teens Montgomery, Alabama duo. There's a great little Southern bizounce vibe with doo-wop backing vocals, a fierce-but-friendly artillery-style rap — including a respectful shout-out to “Mrs. Hillary Clinton” — and a cheerleading chorus that sounds to me like the hook of the year: "O-B-A-M-A! O-B-A-M-A!" Think Missy Elliott doing Toni Basil's "Mickey."
Ti$a, “Vote Obama Way”
In purely visual terms, this is one of the highlights of the Obama countdown. There’s nothing particularly startling or moving or thought-provoking about the clip, just a gleefully cartoonish series of splashy images and set pieces: ghetto blasters dropping out of the sky; a recurring parade of spandexed beauties (the Obamettes?); all sorts of post-Warholian Obamanography. The music is little more than a simpleminded party loop — and I mean that as a compliment. It reminds me of all those late-'80s hip-house records I used to love (Mr. Lee, anyone?). Or maybe it’s just dumbed-down Daft Punk. Take your pick.
DJ Stanun & the RA-I, “Obama Shuffle”
A crunk-house scorcher, with gruff party-it-up vocals (“Let’s go! Let’s go!”) offset by the sweetest of auto-tune choruses, derived from the old spiritual, “Wade in the Water” (“Heeeeeyyy, O-bama”). Does the song even have anything to do with Obama? (I mean, aside from reciting his name in the chorus?) I’ve listened to it about 35 times, and I still couldn’t tell you — and maybe that’s the point. (Unfortunately, there isn’t a proper YouTube clip for this — I located the track through iTunes – so you have to settle for footage of a bunch of high schoolers dancing to it in a gymnasium.)
PART 2: CROSSOVER DREAMS
Some Obama tributes which employ hip-hop moves but which aren’t “hip-hop” per se, if you have to get all nitpicky about it. Not that a single one of them would have happened without hip-hop. Crucially, what these tracks demonstrate isn’t just the reach of hip-hop, but the reach of the candidate himself.
Scott Katsura, “Rock Obama (Mahalo America)”
The only tribute I’m aware of from Obama’s native Hawaii. A melting pot of styles — Euro-like hooks, epic stomp-beat, Latin-metal schlock guitars — swaddled in the shiniest of veneers. I’m pretty split on the dancing sequences in the video, though: Barack and Michelle shimmying on stage puts a smile on my face every time; Katsura bouncing around in the front seat as he drives around town cranking his own song… er, not so much.
The Hush Sound, “We Believe in Barack Obama”
We Kid Creole & the Coconuts fans are a dying breed (were we ever really a living breed?), so it probably goes without saying that this otherwise negligible track, with its brittle funk guitars and crowded-room party ambience, won me over with its sly groove, a tasty replica of KC’s 1982 classic, “Stool Pigeon.” Other live versions I’ve come across of this are forgettable, however.
Pistol Opera, “Obama”
Lunk-headed rap-metal with a decent-enough rhythm section, a not-bad quasi-psychedelicism in the chorus (“The hiphop Dalai Lama / Obama, Obama”), but too many cringe-worthy rhymes to ultimately give much of a damn about. Nice video sample at the top, though, taking us all the way back to the Democratic Convention circa 2004.
PART 3: REFLECTIONS
Expectations about Obama’s ability to affect change are so high right now, while conditions in general are so terrible, particularly for the underclass. There will almost inevitably be a backlash at some level should he take occupancy of the White House; I don’t think that’s cynical so much as it’s mere common sense, though hopefully I’m proven wrong. In contrast with most of the other songs featured here, these begin the process of asking harder questions about what an Obama Presidency might mean, via a tone that is more reflective and a bit more skeptical.
Nas, “Black President”
An inner monologue about the possibility of an African-American in the White House which turns back on itself all over the place; on the one hand Nas is persuaded by the new movement afoot ("I'm thinkin' I can trust this brotha' ") on the other he portends to (inevitable?) feelings of distrust ("Will he really care still?"). Also worth noting: this is the only rap track I’m aware of that mentions Reverend you-know-who ("You ain't right, Jeremiah Wrong pastor”).
Young Jeezy, “My President is Black”
Similar to the track from Nas (who is featured here and contributes a good verse) in that it’s as much an emotional roller coaster, railing about black men crowding up the jails in one line, promising to step up to the plate to canvas a crucial constituency in another ("I will e-mail Jesus / Tell him forward to Moses / and cc Allah”). What makes it one of the rap songs of the year, though, has nothing to do with its words — which are confusing as heck, anyway, to tell the truth — but its sound, particularly that which emanates from Jeezy’s mouth: a guttural deep blues drawl that’s part Iron Man, part blubbering cry baby.
GhostWridah feat. Barack Obama, “Dying to Survive”
One of dozens of songs to sample Barack, and probably the most thoughtful of the bunch (which ain’t a value judgment, necessarily; some of the goofy techno songs that loop short Obama soundbites are riveting in a completely different way). If you watch the clip from which these samples are taken (see below), Barack sounds intelligent, but also — as is his wont — fairly measured in his responses. Professorial even. In GhostWridah’s hands, he comes off like Prince Be of P.M. Dawn. And yes, that’s a compliment.
BONUS…. VIDEO of interview with source material for “Dying to Survive”
PART 4: NOVELTY RAPS
There are more Obama novelties out there than I can be bothered to count, and the majority of them are useless. Not because they’re novelties but because they simply are not very funny — some of them are so painfully unfunny they tip over into the realm of anti-funny, i.e., stuff that makes you think you’ll never laugh again. A few do get by, though. Some have good beats and cute jokes, others have yummy pepperoni and mushroom toppings… trust me, it’s a strange world out there.
Pizza (feat. Obama Girl), “Obama Rap”
A rapping pizza (backed, quite ably I might add, by a bangin’ 808 beat) is convinced — pre-Joe Biden — that he’d make a perfect running mate for Barack: "I'm a pizza / you're a black man / Can we win this election? / Yes we can!" You kind of have to wonder: where was Pizza when McCain boarded that fateful plane to Alaska?
Barely Political, “Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl”
This follow-up to the vaguely amusing but ultimately icky “I Got a Crush on Obama” is an even more ridiculous concept — made all the more so, of course, by Rudy Giuliani's quick exit from the race — but clearly someone in the control booth put some proper care and energy into the recording. The song is little more, ultimately, than a checklist of Destiny's Child clichés (melismatic vocals, skittish beats, fluttering eyelash rhythms) but the clichés ring funny and true, and the exchanged barbs between the girls are beyond-silly enough to make me laugh (O.G. gets in the best rebuttal: "I knew Reagan, and you're no Reagan."). Seriously — this is miles better than it has any right to be.
Manish Shah, “I Wanna Be Obama”
Maybe “novelty” is unfair; it’s described by its maker as a “remarkable expression of love for… Obama by an Indo-Canadian IT Engineer Artist” (in fact, he’s Toronto-based). But it belongs to no specific genre I can peg, and anyway, I always laugh at the mental picture of Bush in his pajamas answering that all-important 3am phone call (I imagine in tone this sequence is not that far from Oliver Stone’s W, which I haven’t seen yet but based on the trailers looks to be positively loopy). Bonus points here for the drum programming.
For more on hip-hop's YouTube tributes to Barack Obama, see tomorrow's edition of EYE WEEKLY, in print across the GTA and online.