a quick scooch around the news and you'd be forgiven for thinking we truly do have the first hip-hop president in us history. the us rap fraternity have been imagining a better world since they first picked up their mics. but will obama be the president they really want?
rapping pioneer kurtis blow struck some conscious notes in his 1985 classic if i ruled the world, addressing the woes of the working class such as crime, hunger and poverty. we're not sure if obama's middle-class tax breaks will please mr blow, but as he also promised his minions, a "super dinner party", we'll keep an eye on white house catering too.
grandmaster melle mel was so enamoured of the idea of a black president he recorded jesse to boost jesse jackson's ill-fated run for the democratic presidential nomination in 1984. "the people ain't black but the house is white/and just because i'm different they don't treat me right," he says in a song that doesn't quite live in the memory like white lines (don't do it).
rakim - considered by many the greatest rapper of all time - didn't even bother to keep hope alive, he just pretended that his erstwhile dj was already leader of the free world by recording the epochal eric b is president in 1987. fellow new yorker tragedy khadafi recorded an incendiary blast called arrest the president in 1990, which we assume was aimed at george bush senior rather than eric b.
it wasn't until dubya was voted in that rap really found its ire again, politically active rappers dead prez and immortal technique teaming up to record impeach the president and kanye west pointing out that george bush didn't "care about black people". once the long 2008 presidential campaign kicked off back in 2006, they weren't slow to stick their heads above the parapet. nas went so far as to sample obama for his black president track which called for an end to police harassment. he'll be happy to know that there are rumours that obama will soon move to end racial profiling.
others don't look so prescient. that nas track was built around a vocal sample of the late tupac saying, "although it seems heaven sent, we ain't ready to see a black president", taken from his 1998 track changes. public enemy's chuck d said he felt obama would be a great vice president to hillary clinton, while 50 cent told reporters america wasn't ready for a black president yet. ludacris felt it was, and his obama is here even boasted: "he said i handle my biz and i'm one of his favourite rappers/well give luda a special pardon if i'm ever in the slammer." but he called hillary clinton a "bitch" and bush "mentally handicapped" in the same track, and obama once told a campaign rally he wasn't inspired by rap artists who "degraded their sisters" or referenced "bitches" and "hos".
many in the rap world might feel obama won't push policy far enough, but whether they consider him black or mixed race, he's black enough for most of them. let's leave the final word to young jeezy, who released this mystic meg-busting classic back in september: "my president is black, my lambo's blue, and i'll be god damned if my rims ain't too..."
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如果你只是瞥了一眼这条新闻，那么你认为美国历史上真的有了第一位嘻哈总统也是情有可原的。美国说唱界人士从他们拿起麦克风的那一天起，就一直想象着一个更好的世界。但奥巴马会是他们真正想要的总统吗？
说唱先锋kurtis blow在其1985年的经典专辑《如果我统治世界》(if i ruled the world)中下意识地加入了一些说明，陈述工人阶级的灾难，例如犯罪、饥饿和贫穷。我们不确定奥巴马的中产阶级税收减免是否能够取悦blow先生，但因为blow对他的仆人们承诺了一个“超级晚宴”，我们也会留意白宫的伙食供应。
grandmaster melle mel也为黑人总统这一想法而倾心，他在1984年录制jesse一歌以支持jesse jackson那注定不幸的民主党总统候选人竞选。他在歌里唱道“人们并不黑但白宫是白的，他们待我不公仅仅因为我与他们不同，”这首歌并不像white lines(don’t do it)那样活在过去当中。
受到各个时代的许多出色说唱歌手尊敬的rakim，从来不用费心去让希望继续下去，他仅仅假装他的前dj已经是自由世界的领导，就在1987年录制划时代的作品《eric b就是总统》(eric b is president)的时候。他的伙伴纽约人tragedy khadafi在1990年录制了一首爆炸性的《拘捕总统》(arrest the president)，这首歌的目标被认为是老布什而非eric b。
在小布什(dubya/译者注：dubya是小布什名字中w的谐音叫法)当选之后，说唱乐才真正地找回了自己的怒火。激进的说唱歌手dead prez和immortal technique联手录制了《弹劾总统》(impeach the president)，还有kanye west指出乔治•布什并不“关心黑人”。回顾2006年，漫长的2008年总统大选一拉开帷幕，他们就迫不及待地挺身而出了。nas甚至把奥巴马的声音取样到自己的歌《黑人总统》(black president)中，这首歌要求让来自警察的侵扰得到结束。当他听到流言蜚语说奥巴马很快就会动手终结种族定性(racial profiling)时，他会很高兴的。
其他人就没有这种先见之明了。nas的那首歌是以已故的tupac的一个歌曲取样为中心，“尽管这好像是天赐的，但我们还没准备好迎接一个黑人总统”，出自他1998年的歌曲《变革》(changes)。当50 cent告诉记者美国还没准备好接受一个黑人总统的同时，社会公敌(public enemy)的chuck d说他觉得奥巴马会是希拉里•克林顿(hillary clinton)的最佳副总统。卢蒂克里斯(ludacris)也这样认为，而他的歌《奥巴马在这里》(obama is here)甚至吹嘘：“他说管好我自己，而我是他最喜欢的说唱歌手之一/即使我在牢房里，也给卢蒂一个特赦吧。”但他在同一首歌里把希拉里称为“婊子”、把布什叫作“弱智”。而奥巴马曾在一个竞选集会中说，他并没有受到那些“贬低自己的姐妹”或者把“婊子”和“妓女”挂在口边的说唱歌手们的激励。
说唱界里的许多人都认为奥巴马对政策的推动力十分有限，但不顾他们认为他是黑人或是混血的，对于绝大部分人来说他已经够“黑”了。让我们把结语留给在九月发行了一张足以令mystic meg难看的专辑的young jeezy吧：“我的总统是黑的，我的兰博基尼是蓝的(blue)，要是我的歌也不是忧郁的(blue)那我就不是人…”