Jay-Z's Still in an Obama State of Mind

The artist and entrepreneur weighs in on politics, the economy and gay rights.
By Joyce Jones
Posted: 05/15/2012 12:09 PM EDT
Filed Under Barack Obama 2012, Barack Obama, President Barack Obama, Jay-Z, The Road to the White House, Mitt Romney, President Obama, Economy, same-sex marriage, Politics News, 2012 Election, Gay Rights

The general election has barely begun, but the rhetoric coming from both Team Obama and Team Romney has reached fever pitch. In an interview on CNN, entrepreneur and music producer Jay-Z said that politicians must remember that their words impact people’s lives.

He compared campaign rhetoric to a rap song hook and noted that politicians “argue points and they forget that at the end of those points are real people going through real problems.”

Jay-Z, who like President Obama believes that those who are less fortunate deserve a helping hand, also said that Obama should be credited for the nation’s improving economy.

“Reversing the direction of the [economic] decline was a full-time job in itself, so I think it’s stabilizing a bit now as some of the numbers show,” he said.

And like millions of Americans in the past week, Jay-Z weighed in on Obama’s support for same-sex marriage.

“What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That’s their business,” the rapper said, adding that bans on same-sex marriage are “no different than discrimination against Blacks. It’s discrimination plain and simple.”

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