Rappers and Presidents
Hip hop artists take aim at the highest office in the land.
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Lupe Fiasco vs. Barack Obama - Lupe Fiasco may have broken with the larger hip hop community with his recent remarks about President Obama, but there's a long history of rappers criticizing America's commander-in-chief. Lupe took some flack from his pro-Obama fans when a recent interview aired in which he said "to me, the biggest terrorist is Barack Obama in the United States of America." Standing by the statement, Lupe later said that all American presidents, past, present and future are guilty of terrorism. (Photo: Al Powers / Retna Ltd)
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Tupac Shakur vs. Bill Clinton - On "Letter to the President," a song release posthumously with the Outlawz, Tupac gives voice to the frustrations of young Black men who don't see the benefits of presidential policies in their neighborhoods. Released in 1999, it presumably references Bill Clinton, though he is never explicitly named. "I wanna meet the President, but will he meet me? He's scared to look inside the eyes of a Thug N***a We tired of bein scapegoats for this capitalistic drug dealin." (Photo: Reuters)
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Kanye West vs. George W. Bush - "George Bush doesn't care about Black people." Seven words that instantly became cemented in the culture. Kanye's ad lib during a post-Katrina telethon became infamous as a shorthand for the disenchantment felt by the Black community in the wake of the Bush administration's handling of the hurricane. Five years later, the sting was still there, with Bush referring to the incident as a "low point" for his presidency in his 2010 memoir. (Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images)
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Ice Cube vs. Ronald Reagan - Ice Cube didn't become "Amerikkka's Most Wanted" by playing nice. The "F*** Tha Police" rapper was an outspoken critic of Ronald Reagan-era policies. In a 2004 interview, Cube blamed the 40th president for ruining America's inner city neighborhoods. "When Reaganomics came in, everything left. Everything that kept us halfway decent and off the streets was gone. The parks started getting taken over by gangs, he said."There was no more Pop Warner football, no more baseball. Since then, nothing has ever been put back. No one helps the inner city. All the presidents fail when it comes to that." (Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
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Jay-Z vs. George W. Bush - At a concert during the 2008 presidential campaign season, Jay-Z put aside his usual political agnosticism and came out in support of the Barack Obama campaign. He also used the occasion to deal a parting shot to the outgoing head of the executive branch, repeating a thinly veiled diss from his 2007 song "Blue Magic." "Push. Money over broads, you got it, f**** Bush," he said. (Photo: Jeff Daly/PictureGroup)
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Prodigy vs. Barack Obama - At least one half of Mobb Deep is sympathetic with Lupe's stance on the current administration. Back in 2008, Prodigy gave a prison interview in which he expressed strong misgivings about then-candidate Barack Obama. "I wanna like Obama, but he's all about the world government, world banking, war and stuff like that. You know what I'm sayin'? He's a phony," Prodigy said. "I wish nothing but love and happiness for him. But he's either gonna be assassinated to create chaos and bring about martial law or he'll live and then years down the line, at the end of his term everybody will see that he's just like the rest of these plastic presidents, who does absolutely nothing good. Just another puppet for the Royal family." Now P told hiphopdx.com that he agrees with Lupe's current belief that Obama is a "terrorist."&nbs...