Barack Obama Expresses His Appreciation For Hip-Hop

Hip-hop loves Barack Obama and Obama loves hip-hop. Well, at least, he has “Jay-Z, Kanye and some other stuff” in his i-pod. “I enjoy it, but these days I don’t have the time to listen to it all the time,” he stated to MTV News.

Well maybe he doesn’t exactly love hip-hop, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but Obama did have this to say about his appreciation for the ‘entrepreneurial generation of hip-hop’, “What I’ve appreciated in watching this hip-hop generation, is to see how entrepreneurial they’ve been,” stated Obama.

“In the past, musicians often times were commodities. They were just shuffled around. Obviously, they did well, but they didn’t have the vision to say, ‘I’m going to build a business. I’m going to build my own studio. I’m going to create my own production operations.’ I think they’re a lot more sophisticated now than in the past, and that is a wonderful thing.”

Barack Obama has had his share of supporters from the Hip-Hop community including rapper Nas who back in July, this year, released a statement directed at Jesse Jackson stating quote ‘Your Time Is Up, We Got Barack Obama’; rapper Q-Tip who has actually featured Barack Obama on his tracks; and even Hip-hop mogul and Def Jam founder, Russell Simmons, announced his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama earlier this year.

“Obama’s leadership, passion and demand for a change resonates effectively with the aspirations of millions of people who want a better quality of life,” stated Russell Simmons. “I see him as a different kind of candidate.. I see him as more of a spiritual inspiration, as much as a politician. The idea that other people are experiencing a change in themselves. I see that as an important part of the process,” added Simmons. Plus many others such Young Jeezy, Will.i.am, Jay-Z and others in the hip-hop community have expressed their support for the presidential hopeful.

Watch the MTV video with Barack Obama on his view of Hip-Hop.