Presidential playlist: Obama opens up his iPod (Barry downloads another Ludacris song)

guardian uk ^ | 6/25/2008 | Angela Balakrishnan

[milwguy]

The Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama showcased his diverse musical taste, ranging from Bob Dylan to Jay-Z and Bruce Springsteen, after revealing the playlist on his iPod.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, to be published this Friday, the Illinois senator said he had "pretty eclectic tastes".

"I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics," he said, "but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music."

He said the hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and the rappers Jay-Z and Ludacris were "great talents and great businessmen".

[milwguy]

Barry....this was from an article a month ago. You have stepped in a big pile of Ludacris doo doo my man. When you lay down with dogs, you are bound to get fleas. You think you had a problem with white women before? Wait until those 527's start with Luacris calling Hillary a bitch, and the quote of you calling Ludacris a great talent crawling across the bottom of the screen, and then finishing with Ludacris urging voters to 'Paint the White House black".

[Eric in the Ozarks]

He's not the Lunatic I knew...ah
Take two.

[Corin Stormhands]

priceless find...

[cyborg]

I don’t think this is a big deal.

[Slapshot68]

“I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics,”

That’s it? How about the F-word every other word? How about the glorification of crime and the killing of cops?

[Adder]

“but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music.”

Where has this fool been? Music was desegrated starting back in the 50’s.

The garbage called rap REsegregates music..imho.

[SlowBoat407]

"I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics," he said, "but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music."

Translation: we're mainstreaming misogyny and materialism!

[MEGoody]

"but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture

Yes, it had helped the culture slide closer to self-destruction.

". . .and helped to desegregate music."

Whatever the heck this is supposed to mean.

[wideawake]

What's most amusing about this is that Jay-Z's and Ludacris' lyrics have plenty of "misogyny and materialism" - there are plenty of MCs who avoid these cliches, but the ones Obama named embody them.

Jay-Z: "If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you son / I got 99 problems but a b!tch ain't one"

I'd quote Ludacris' "P-Poppin" but it's unquotable, as well as being one of the worst hip hop tracks ever produced.

[Anti-Hillary]

Barry even flip-flops on his music choices.

Hey Barry, character is choosing to do the right thing even when you think no one is looking, not when it serves your own political interests.

Let's remind Bill O’Reilly of this article BEFORE he fawns all over Obama for throwing Ludacris under the bus today...

[9YearLurker]

I think it’s actually helped re-segregate music.

[lesser_satan]

"but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music."

Umm, you'd think the Black Messiah would know a little more about the cultural contributions of his peeps. Blacks desegregated music years ago when they invented jazz, blues, and rock.

[lesser_satan]

O’Rly lacks the cognitive ability to link the two events.

[ComputerGuy]

...genius of the art form...
There ain't no genius and there ain't no art form.
Rappers remind me of home boys hanging out in the projects, trying to look/sound bad.

[Anti-Hillary]

You got that right.

I think that was my backdoor point...

[SnakeDoctor]

Eh, this doesn’t really bother me all that much. I don’t care for rap ... but, I’m into hard rock and heavy metal, so there are several singers on my i-pod which might not be entirely impressive either (Godsmack, Buckcherry, Marylin Manson, Hinder, Nickelback, etc.).

There are so many legitimate reasons to object to Barack Obama that this one doesn’t really even make my radar screen.

H

[LYSandra]

“eclectic”? Ludicrous? Please! All libs suffer from arrogance and thinking they are wordsmiths! Rap music is worthless crap and oh it’s not music.

[coop71]

I don’t either. I work out to all kinds of music, including some rap. The lyrics go in one ear and out the other. Granted, I’m not running for President...

[Mike Bates]

[cyborg]

I have a lot of weird stuff on my mp3 player. Petronski put a bunch of Patton Oswalt comedy on it. I have to be careful there aren’t any grannies around when I have it on in the car.