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Barack Obama demonstrated several times that he is aligned with Hip-Hop culture in several aspects, and a recent appearance at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris adds to that assessment. During the rally in Detroit, Mich., with Eminem bringing out the former president, Barack Obama rapped the opening bars of the Motor City rapper’s smash hit “Lose Yourself” to uproarious applause.
Barack Obama was in Detroit on Tuesday (October 22) to rally voters in support of Vice President Harris, with several thousand in attendance. Ahead of Obama taking the stage, native son Eminem took to the podium to bring the popular former president out in proper fashion.
With Obama taking his place, his typical charm was on display and elevated when he talked through the lines of “Lose Yourself” with the crowd backing him up which only seemed to energize the moment further.
From there, Obama launched into his talking points and took digs at Harris’ opponent, Donald Trump, including reports of his dwindling crowd sizes, attacks on legal immigrants in Ohio, and generally painting the Republican presidential hopeful as a man lacking the traits to lead the country to better pastures.
“Any election is about more than policies, it’s about values and it’s about character,’ Obama said, as reported by the Detroit Free Press.
“Whether this election is making you feel excited or scared or hopeful or frustrated, or anything in between, do not sit back and hope for the best,” Obama said. “Don’t just hope, get off your couch and vote. Vote for Kamala Harris.”
On X, reactions to Barack Obama, including his rapping of Eminem’s bars, have been positive. We’ve got some of them listed below. We have the video clip in question below as well, courtesy of MSNBC.
Obama raps Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” after being introduced by the rapper at a rally for Harris in Detroit, MI. pic.twitter.com/MqXJzplZPY
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 23, 2024
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Donald Trump has often touted his ability to campaign nonstop while claiming that despite his age, his energy is at an optimal level. However, that didn’t seem to be the case when Donald Trump reportedly backed out of an interview with The Shade Room platform with his aides citing exhaustion as the reason.
With Vice President Kamala Harris wading into hostile waters by appearing on Fox News and employing a strategy of visiting non-traditional media platforms, including The Shade Room, Donald Trump has played it relatively safe.
Trump did have some interesting showings this week on the campaign trail, most especially a discussion with John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, which devolved into testy exchanges and avoided answers on tough subjects. That followed a Monday town hall event that took a bizarre turn after it morphed into an all-out dance party after two attendees had a medical emergency.
According to POLITICO, Trump’s appearance on The Shade Room would’ve placed the former president squarely in the sights of a largely young Black audience, a demographic both camps are framing as important to winning the election in November. Vice President Harris, as part of her ongoing media blitz, has appeared on the platform along with podcasts and meeting with media figures such as Charlamagne Tha God among others.
From POLITICO:
The Trump campaign had been in conversations for weeks with The Shade Room about a sit-down interview. The site, which draws an audience that is largely young and Black, hosted an interview with Harris just last week.
But as no interview materialized, Shade Room staff began feeling that feet were being dragged inside Trump’s campaign. No date was ever set, we’re told, but the intention was to try and work toward a sit-down.
In a conversation earlier this week, when describing why an interview hadn’t come together just yet, a Trump adviser told The Shade Room producers that Trump was “exhausted and refusing [some] interviews but that could change” at any time, according to two people familiar with the conversations.
As the outlet notes, this shows a pattern of Trump backing out of scheduled interviews but also shared a statement from Trump’s spokesperson that the news of him being exhausted stating that the news is false.
On X, formerly Twitter, people are sharing their thoughts about Donald Trump and his current campaign media appearance schedules.
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Lupe Fiasco has one of the more storied journeys in Hip-Hop, starting off in Chicago as an upstart MC to becoming one of the genre’s most respected lyricists. In a new interview, Lupe Fiasco shared why the Child Rebel Soldier, or CRS, supergroup with Kanye West and Pharrell Williams never took off.
Sitting down with Donwill of Tanya Morgan fame for his The Almanac of Rap series with Okayplayer, Lupe Fiasco shared details of his early days in Chicago, his travels in the music industry, and who he is as an artist today.
The CRS supergroup was one of many announced groups that caught the attention of Hip-Hop fans considering the acts involved. At the time of their forming in 2010, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams were buzzing acts and Lupe was still signed to Atlantic Records at the time.
In the chat, Lupe said that the idea for CRS started with him rapping over samples of songs made by the Radiohead band and recording a song with Skateboard P. Ye happened to hear the work and added that he wanted in on the track, prompting Williams to suggest they get together as a group.
Lupe says that Pharrell named him the “Child” of the group while Ye was the “Rebel” with the Virginia producer giving himself the “Soldier” tag. The trio did record the track “Don’t! Stop!” and the remix to N.E.R.D.’s “Everybody Nose” but that would be the end of it.
As the interview went on, Lupe, without naming names, said that one of the members, presumably Ye, “got rich and crazy” before trailing off into laughter.
The clip in question with Lupe Fiasco can be viewed below. Also, we’ve got the full The Almanac of Rap video as well.
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Malcolm X might be the last historical figure to come to mind as it relates to the politics of Republican Party presidential hopeful, Donald Trump. However, a Black conservative evoked one of Malcolm X’s most famous quotes regarding “House Negroes” and “Field Negroes,” saying that those in the field are “going for Trump.”
Shelly Wynter, who refers to himself as a Traditionalist conservative, was a guest on CNN this week with anchor Sara Sidner and were having a discussion about the upcoming election race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Wynter referenced Malcolm X’s famous 1963 speech in which the civil rights leader presented a comparison of two types of so-called Negroes, a widely used term at the time to describe Black people in America. In the speech, X lays out that the house Negro was partial to the slave owner and wanted his favor, while the field Negro held the slave owner in contempt.
Wynter, perhaps misunderstanding or misrepresenting X’s quotes, shocked the CNN panel by saying that the “field African American” to use his words would pull the lever for Trump.
“Let’s be honest here, and let’s really be clear what’s being said,” Wynter began in the now viral c. “If you’re an African American man, look, let me boil this election down in the African American community to a very simple [way]. I’ll reference the great Malcolm X. This race is between house African Americans and field African Americans, and a field African Americans going for Trump.”
Wynter added, “I’m talking about your men who build, your men who put things together, your men who work with their hands, your men who do things, not the men who push paper or the men are connected to power and want to continue to be connected to power, I’m talking about the men in our community who are doing the work.”
Sidner was taken aback by Wynter’s analysis and attempted to offer some pushback but was met with overtalking with Wynter deftly evading her question asking if he was putting down Black men with white-collar professions. Michael Blake, the former DNC Vice Chair and an aide to President Barack Obama, didn’t allow Wynter to own the moment and challenged his assertions.
“Is Shelley the house one or the field one?” Blake said. “I’m just trying to understand that part, I’m just trying to understand the one that’s spitting talking points right now. Are you the house Negro and the field Negro that you’re referring to? I’m just trying to make sure. Your question was about denigrating Black people, that literally was your question. You have a Republican fool who was talking right now. You literally just said Black men, this is an election about house or field. This is the nonsense that we are listening to right now by those that are supporting Donald Trump.”
The clip is still making its rounds across social media with many sharing their thoughts on why Shelly Wynter used Malcolm X’s speech to hammer his point him. We’ve got the clip in question and responses from the X platform below.
This CNN discussion goes completely off the rails when radio host Shelley Wynter says: “This race is between house African-Americans and field African-Americans, and the field African-Americans are going for Donald Trump.”
Needless to say, things broke down after that. pic.twitter.com/e1Gyh8IZX4
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 16, 2024
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Photo: Screengrab/CNN/X/Getty
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Young Dro went viral earlier this week after a clip of his surfaced online and almost led to a violent and unnecessary altercation with a friend. During his interview alongside T.I. on The Breakfast Club, Young Dro threatened to lay hands on comedian Kelly KDubb for laughing in the background as he shared his sobriety journey.
T.I. and Young Dro were guests on The Breakfast Club in an episode that aired Monday (October 14) and early on in the conservation, Dro shared some details on where he’s been after slowing down his active mixtape run.
With Dro sharing that he suffered a drug overdose, you can hear Kelly KDubb in the back giggling in the background, which caused others in the room to also snicker. Dro gamely tried to continue his story and even shared that his daughter battled drug addiction, which caused KDubb to laugh again but at this point, Dro had enough.
“Ay you finna get slapped, I mean we cool, but I’ll slap the sh*t out of you,” Dro says to KDubb, who didn’t back down and looked to be ready for action. But before things went incredibly left, T.I. showed exemplary leadership skills and got his crew to settle down and the air was cleared.
Later in the chat, Dro apologized to KDubb, The Breakfast Club, and all involved, proving that he truly is a changed man despite very much being from Bankhead as he reminded his friend. Dro went on to share that he is currently approaching four years of sobriety and seems to be focused on staying on that path.
Despite cooler heads prevailing, some fans online felt that Kelly KDubb’s open disrespect of Young Dro was out of bounds and had some thoughts to share on X. We’ve got those reactions below.
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Kaseem “KA” Ryan began his Hip-Hop career in relative obscurity in the 1990s but later emerged as one of the most important writers within the genre. With the news of KA passing away over the weekend going wide, Hip-Hop fans and artists alike are mourning the loss of the talented Brooklyn wordsmith.
pic.twitter.com/I6Vf5a5z3r
— Ka (@BrownsvilleKa) October 14, 2024
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KA was born Kaseem Ryan on August 11, 1972, and was a proud son of the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. His musical career began as a member of the underground group Natural Elements but he would vacate his role, focusing on other endeavors.
After the Natural Elements stint, Ryan joined forces with his friend Kev to form the Nightbreed crew but, just as he did with his former group, Ryan felt that his abilities were lacking in comparison to his rhyming partners.
Ryan speaks about his background during a stellar 2016 interview with the Red Bull Music Academy, which you can find here.
KA would begin his long transformation as an artist via his debut album, Iron Works, which also was the name of his imprint and further a calling to his signature sound. The project caught the ears of fellow Brooklynite GZA, who invited Ryan to join the Wu-Tang Clan swordsman on the chilling track “Firehouse,” produced by Roc Marciano, another artist who transcended his earlier sound and took his art to a stripped-down but still potent level.
In 2012, KA would release Grief’s Pedigree, leaning further into his minimalist, sparse yet lyrically dense style. Blessed already with a distinct, gravelly voice, Ryan used his tone but also his shockingly vulnerable lyrics to great effect. It was not music designed for the day party. Instead, it was meant to be absorbed, dissected, studied, and overall, respected.
The Night’s Gambit. Honor Killed The Samurai. Descendants Of Cain. A Martyr’s Reward. Languish Arts. Woeful Studies. The Thief Next To Jesus. Each of these albums carries its own sonic identity and there is no recommended starting point. Each release is so dense that one will be unpacking the meanings over several dozen listens and still not catch everything.
One of Ryan’s greatest gifts was his commitment to a concept. His will to use every bit of his ability and how he managed to refine his writing on each outing became his calling card but it didn’t capture every measure of the man.
Outside of Hip-Hop, KA was a husband, homeowner, and a New York City firefighter. While he didn’t speak at great lengths about his job in his music, he would share some details of that part of his life in profiles and interviews. Another striking aspect of Ryan is that he didn’t define himself by measuring his success in music. He treated it as a natural extension of himself and perhaps a way to process the things he saw growing up and doing his part to add to the legacy of the culture by willing himself to greatness.
Throughout nine solo projects that he largely produced and two collaborative projects, he also oversaw shooting videos, managing merchandise, and conducting meet-and-greet events with his adoring fans, KA remained humble and grateful.
A quick scan of his social media accounts showcased his everpresent humility, and he engaged his fans when he found the time to do so. Every story that will surely emerge in the coming days was how gracious he was and made himself tangible despite his legendary status in Hip-Hop.
If you ever cared about the quality of songwriting in Hip-Hop and want to discover a shining example of the heights it can reach in the genre, we suggest giving KA a bit of your ear.
As Hip-Hop fans the world over mourn one of the mighty titans of the culture, the jewels KA left us will live on forever.
May he rest powerfully in peace.
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Photo: @brownsvilleka/Instagram
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Indigenous Peoples Day began as a counter to the United States federal holiday of Columbus Day to honor and celebrate Indigenous American peoples and is now an official holiday in some cities and states. Annually on X, Indigenous Peoples Day trends with many on the social media platform showing their support and recognition by sharing history, small factoids, memes, and more.
Here is a brief explainer from History.com:
For the fourth year in a row, the United States will officially observe Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrates the history and contributions of Native Americans. In 2024, the holiday falls on Monday, October 14.
While the Joe Biden administration has officially recognized Indigenous Peoples’ Day since 2021, it is not yet a federal holiday. More than a dozen states recognize some version of the holiday in place of Columbus Day. Some states and cities, however, still celebrate Columbus Day or Italian Heritage Day. Across the US, 17 states, including Washington, South Dakota and Maine, as well as Washington, D.C., have holidays honoring Indigenous communities. Dozens of cities and school systems observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day as well.
There has been some effort to formally designate Indigenous Peoples’ Day a federal holiday. The Indigenous Peoples’ Day Act, reintroduced in Congress on October 2, 2023, would designate the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day nationwide.
Columbus Day is named after Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, who sailed to the Americas and came across several Indigenous groups during his travels. Often credited for discovering the Americas, most view Columbus as a symbol of the harm caused by European colonization in the Americas and Caribbean region.
On X, that sentiment is shared time and again and we’ve got several replies from X listed below.
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Michael Strahan, easily one of the best NFL players to ever exist and currently a beloved on-air journalist, would not be mistaken to be a professor of politics and that is not a slight. That point was proven after Michael Strahan interviewed Gov. Tim Walz and asked the Minnesota governor why Vice President Kamala Harris hadn’t enacted any of her proposed policies in the past three and a half years.
In a clip that is trending on X now, Michael Strahan is seen speaking with Gov. Walz in an interview for Good Morning America that aired on Friday (October 11). Much of the discussion had to do with the current presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump along with other pertinent topics.
The portion of the interview that had some scratching their heads shows Strahan asking, with a straight face, what Walz would say to critics of Harris who claim she hasn’t put forth any of the policies she’s spoken about on the campaign trail in her time in office.
Walz, clearly in ready-to-answer mode, flipped it back by saying that to pass policies you need a “partner in Congress” and correctly took aim at Trump and his time at the helm. Perhaps because time was of the essence, Walz seemingly side-stepped giving Strahan a much-needed lesson in how the White House works.
The tough line of questioning from Strahan was necessary considering the Harris-Walz campaign is vying for votes in a reported tight race. That said, Walz seemed to duck answering questions and waffled on a couple of answers which naturally caught the eyes of his detractors.
The Trump-Vance campaign has sought to frame Vice President Harris as a do-nothing politician although if you asked anyone to state with Vice President Mike Pence did in office aside from standing up to his boss during the transfer of power struggle, they’d be grasping for examples.
The truth is that the role of the Vice President of the United States is a specific one and does not carry the wide-ranging power that the president’s office holds.
Of course, if you paid attention in civics class or watched some of those classic Schoolhouse Rock segments, folks would stop this charade.
On X, folks are reacting to Michael Strahan floating an empty strawman question to Gov. Tim Walz and we’ve got those reactions below.
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GloRilla is easily one of the top Hip-Hop stars of her generation and her pathway to greater success is widening even further. The Memphis rapper dropped her debut studio album Glorious on Friday (October 11) and fans on X are going up for GloRilla.
Glorious clocks in at 15 tracks and boasts several big features, including Megan Thee Stallion, T-Pain, Bossman Dlow, Latto, Muni Long, Sexxy Red, and Fridayy.
Ahead of the album’s release, GloRilla fans were taken aback by the inclusion of Kirk Franklin, Kierra Sheard, and the Maverick City Music collective. Of course, the turn-up anthems that Big Glo is known for are all present throughout the album, and the singles “TGIF” and “Hollon” set the table for the main course as expected.
So far, fans are “How I Look” featuring Houston’s number one Hottie, Megan Thee Stallion, and the collaborators are also friends away from the tour stage as evidenced by the social media posts together.
Another standout for fans is “Watchu Kno About Me” featuring Sexxy Red, with the pair trading bars over a beat flip of “Wipe Me Down” from Foxx, Boosie Badazz, and Webbie. There is even some fan speculation that Glo took a shot at JT, formerly of the City Girls, on the track.
While he doesn’t appear on the album, Glo’s label boss Yo Gotti has several production credits across the project, thus stamping the Memphis sound that his artist has cultivated and grown over the years.
With all the positive returns thus far for Glorious, GloRilla is having an exceptional day and is trending on X. We’ve got reactions from the social media platform below.
GLORIOUS OUT NOW 🔥🔥🔥🔥& whatchu kno about me video !!! I’m so excited I hope yall luv dis album as much as I do 🥹I put my everything in dis just for yall ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥 https://t.co/PtqLRcdWTr pic.twitter.com/XcJ9OTWVdA
— GloRilla 🦍 (@GloTheofficial) October 11, 2024
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Kamala Harris, the current Vice President of the United States, joined a Univision town hall event on Thursday to appeal to Latino voters and took questions from attendees. Kamala Harris’ detractors attempted to spread rumors of the vice president using a teleprompter, which has since been debunked.
Vice President Kamala Harris appeared at the University of Nevada Las Vegas on Thursday (October 10) for the Univision town hall, which was hosted and moderated by Enrique Acevedo. During the town hall, Harris fielded questions from concerned citizens and addressed several issues important to this bloc of voters which include immigration, healthcare, housing, and more.
The town hall was an emotional affair, with some attendees tearfully delivering their questions and Harris gamely answering them. One woman shared at the event that her mother passed away and couldn’t obtain healthcare due to her immigration status. In response, Harris showed compassion and empathy.
“I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through,” Harris said. “I know what it is like to have a hard-working mother who loves you and to lose that, but I know that her spirit is alive.”
Other attendees grilled Harris on what she intends to do for those unable to get Social Security benefits and other related concerns as those who spoke felt frozen out of getting proper treatment for their ailments. Harris also fielded a tough question from an independent voter who pondered how she was able to get to the top of the ticket after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Harris also addressed the issue of assisting the middle class, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet in a grueling economy with stagnant wages, rising costs, and a cooling job market. She also made certain to draw the line between herself and Donald Trump by hammering down on her policies while criticizing the former president on his plans.
In the wake of the town hall, powerful conservative voices such as Sean Hannity went on to accuse Harris of getting talking point assistance from a teleprompter, despite the use of the device being a rather common practice. Trump has charged Harris with getting a boost from teleprompter use and boasts that he doesn’t need one yet his rambling and often incoherent speeches would suggest otherwise.
On X, where Hannity made his accusation, there is already a community note shooting down the claim. Further, Acevedo confirmed that the teleprompter was for his use and replied under an X reply made by conservative pundit Benny Johnson.
The prompter displayed my introduction (in Spanish) and then it switched to a timer. Any claim to the contrary is simply untrue. https://t.co/eYWZFoCyZf
— Enrique Acevedo (@Enrique_Acevedo) October 11, 2024
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“The prompter displayed my introduction (in Spanish) and then it switched to a timer. Any claim to the contrary is simply untrue,” Acevedo wrote. It should be noted that Hannity deleted his claim but didn’t seem to offer an explanation.
Despite the moderator’s reply and actual images posted on X supporting his stance, the teleprompter claim grew legs and spread to the point it became a trending topic. We’ve got reactions to Kamala Harris’ Univision town hall meeting, and the debunked teleprompter claims below.
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