I’ve said it a million times here on HN, if Barack Obama loses it will be because of black people. If its not Bob Johnson basically telling people they dumb for voting for Obama, it’s Jesse Jackson saying he wants to cut off Barack’s nuts. Even more dangerous than old men threatening to severe Barack’s cashew sack are the rappers out there who insist on putting in their two cents, often causing more trouble than they are helping. Just recently I blogged about how Ludacris had a serious dumb out moment in the creation of his “Pro-Obama” song and how Obama had to quickly separate himself from the offensive yet highly entertaining lyrics. Barack’s relationship with hip hop has been a tight rope walk in that he can’t disapprove of the most popular music/culture amongst blacks who are his strongest supporters but at the same time he can’t seem like he’s okay with all the things rappers say. Thus we have those odd quotes where Barack says he loves to listen to Jay-Z on his iPod but then turns around and says rappers should change their lyrics (huh?).

Recently on the Huffington Post Chris Lighty stopped suckling 50 Cent’s nipple just long enough to chime in and tell Obama how he should deal with rogue rappers.

“Don’t lower yourself to speak to rappers! Just because you are African-American, don’t allow the press to make you step down from the plate of being one of the most powerful men in the world to address a comment from a rapper, no matter how great he or she is.”

I was a little surprised at this comment given Lighty’s line of work. I expected something a bit more Nas-ish or Russel Simmons-esque where they basically say “Rappers are telling the story of the streets and are seen as leaders in their communities…blah blah…same old sh*t..blah blah”. Lighty basically says Obama shouldn’t say anything because he’s on a totally different level.

I don’t think I agree completely with Lighty though. I think Obama should address concerns of the hip hop community but he should by no means cater to them. If Nas or ________ (insert rapper who thinks he knows everything) brings up a solid point I don’t see why Obama or McCain for that matter shouldn’t address it. The thing is, who would actually bring up any valid issues?

Read Chris’ full blog