“My President is Black, My Lambo’s Blue”

Abstract

Research Article| June 02 2019 “My President is Black, My Lambo’s Blue”: The Obamafication of Rap? Erik Nielson Erik Nielson 1University of Sheffield; Email: enielson@richmond.edu Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Popular Music Studies (2019) 31 (2): 37–50. https://doi.org/10.1525/jpms.2019.312006 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Erik Nielson; “My President is Black, My Lambo’s Blue”: The Obamafication of Rap?. Journal of Popular Music Studies 2 June 2019; 31 (2): 37–50. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jpms.2019.312006 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentJournal of Popular Music Studies Search At the end of 2006, when Nas released his album Hip Hop is Dead, he wasn’t too far off, at least as far as rap is concerned.1 Not only have sales been in a nosedive for the last several years, with recent declines doubling those for the recording industry overall, but there has been mounting discontent among fans, who have grown frustrated with the tired, gangsta-inspired lyrics that glorify violence, materialism, and misogyny at the expense of a more socially conscious agenda. As Michael Eric Dyson puts it, a “noble verbal art has been replaced by the mindless redundancy of themes we’re all too familiar with: women, weed, wine, cars, and jewelry” (148). With the candidacy and election of Barack Obama, however, many have expressed hope for a kind of renaissance, one in which socially conscious lyrics can once again shape the direction of rap music. In a CNN... You do not currently have access to this content.

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