COMMENTARY: Relationship Between Obama and Hip Hop Is Being Tested

By Tonyaa Weathersbee

It was a romance that was bound to hit a rough patch on the Barack Obama campaign trail.

For some time now, a flirtation of sorts has been going on between the hip-hop world and the first black presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Common mentions Obama in his song, “The People.” Vibe Magazine dubbed him “B-Rock.” Obama even borrowed a bit from Jay-Z with the “dirt-off-your-shoulder” gesture he used to blow off opponent Sen. Hillary Clinton and others who were hatin’ on him.

But that relationship was bound to be tested in a big way.

Obama‘s campaign recently had to disavow remarks by Ludacris who, in typical street style, praised Obama by dissing his opponents. In a song titled “Politics as Usual,” Ludacris used the B-word to describe Clinton, called President Bush “mentally handicapped,” and said that Obama’s septuagenarian GOP challenger John McCain doesn‘t belong in “any chair unless he’s paralyzed.”

COMMENTARY....