Hip Hop

When I first saw this video over at Seeing The Forest I laughed so hard, everybody in the apartment rushed to see what the hell I was watching. This has been a big hit among my family and friends, so much so that I decided to contact the author and ask them for the lyrics.

manicwithmark was extremly gracious. This is what he had to say :

I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I can't do Flash animation, and I don't look quite as sexy as Obama Girl in a skin tight tank top, so doing a picture collage was pretty much my only option. Some of the references were for stuff going on in the news around the time I posted it eight months ago, which during primary season is an eternity. But hopefully it still stands up.

I can't believe it has been around for 8 months now. I eat this stuff up and it just went under my radar. So without further ado, I give you "Baby Got Barack".

1. Obama Gangster Rap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhMCiFLdJyg

2. Hip Hop For Obama - Public Service Announcement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLHvHT7ysx8

3. Fallen Angels, feat Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFj1WFPSfdc

4. Common for Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1dc6KcGeQw

5. Representin' Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9IHM4XL_Ws

6. "Party Like Obama" by The Obama Boyz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHqg_g8lq10

7. Do the Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maqF2FpnZy8

8. Barack Obama Rap Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaMccee1iOY

9. Something about the man/Yes We Can Remix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw4fRvFhuh4

10. Yes We Can
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

When it looked like Hillary Clinton was winning New Hampshire, I hit the exit poll data to see what patterns emerged. I found that compared to Iowa, there were less voters of the "Hip Hop Generation".

Jeff Chang puts the birth of this demographic at 1968 given the historical importance of the year. I'll play devil's advocate and say that the HHG goes back to 1963 with :

I actually lay awake, nights on end, disquieting over the possibility that R. Kelly may indeed be the music, film and poetry genius he wants us to believe he is.

Oh shit ... pregnant by a midget ... oh shit.

So, I'm sitting here checking my email and I am reading one sent by a spokesperson for a couple of First People's tribes and all that pops into my head is "whatever happened to A Tribe Called Quest.

There's a Wikipedia page up for them. That you get their page first instead of MTV, show's how cluless they've been about capitalizing on their importance as an archive of Hip Hop history.

I guess MTV has left it up to VH1 to the heavy historical lifting.

Here's Google's compilation of their discography.

And you can find their MySpace page here.

Why can't hip hop be more like them?

Founded in 2004, World Up! is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about international cultures, and issues that affect the global community through Hip Hop and its related musics. Through its ongoing events, educational programming, and annual music festival, World Up actively promotes and fosters diversity, cross-cultural understanding and social change through Hip Hop culture.

World Up! is run by a group of volunteers who come from diverse backgrounds and cultures but share a deep love for Hip Hop and how it is used as a tool for social and political change. It has a well established network of artists, DJs, Mc's, film makers, promoters, activists around the globe.

Get Involved! Join the movement!
www.worldup.org
info@worldup.org

I have not ignored all the people who have asked me to comment on the Clinton-Bloggers Harlem fiasco. I have been doing an awful lot of commenting across blogs and responding to emails. Ironically, it's been a socially intense two weeks. For those who thought a digitally lynching would make me disappear ... heh. Sorry.

There's a lot of good stuff written out there. I want to highlight Sunrunner's awesome, "Jane Hamsher: The Left's Answer to Ann Coulter?". All throughout those posts you will find really awesome comments by kid oakland, Jeffrey Feldman, Donna, not your standard poodle (oh how I love that sig!), MBW, Nannette, belledame222 and Kai. There's lots of other people and apologies if I didn't highlight everybody, but these commenters can be found all across at least 10-15 posts on the matter. Thanks all for adding to the conversation.

I do have follow-up posts. I will make good use of Monday morning traffic for them to appear on the blog. It also will give me some more time to smooth out my not-so-final comments on the matter.

YouTube - What's the Difference Between Blacks and Jews