Obama Meets Jay-Z in YouTube Mashup Slamming Clinton & Debate

Barack Obama is clearly taking that abysmal ABC News debate in stride. He told his supporters not to fret about all the "textbook Washington" drama on Thursday, recounting the superficial moderators and Hillary Clinton's attempts to "twist the knife" on trivial issues. Then Obama made pop cultural history, miming the rapper Jay-Z's iconic hand signal to "brush the dirt" off his shoulders.

That popular youth gesture grew out of "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," a hit song in 2003. As Wikipedia explains, it refers to "getting enemies off your chest by brushing your shoulders off." Blogger Spencer Ackerman, who regularly mixes political analysis with hip hop references, immediately heralded the move as "perhaps the coolest subliminal cultural reference in the history of American politics." A YouTube clip of the cultural moment, uploaded by the Obama Campaign, swiftly drew over 100,000 views on Thursday. And then the mashups started.

On Thursday night, YouTuber Bill3948 uploaded a one-minute mash-up of Jay-Z songs, Clinton attacks and Obama's inspired response. The sequence opens with clips of Clinton's cheap shots, accompanied by the Jay-Z ballad "Moment of Clarity," pivots to lowlights from the ABC debate, and then scores Obama's response with the original "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" track. While Obama brushes, graphics of Hillary, Bill and Charlie Gibson fly off his shoulders. Then he shakes off a kitchen sink -- a nod to Clinton's desperate strategy -- as Jay raps about hanging out "in the kitchen with soda." It's a fun, sharp extension of Obama's call to brush off some of the ridiculous attacks:
(More after the clip.)

Obama really is a Jay-Z fan, too. When asked which hip hop artists he likes in a recent interview, he said, "lately I've been listening to a lot of Jay-Z -- this new American Gangster album." But he also stressed his opposition to the degrading and materialistic themes that run through too many hip hop albums:

I love the art of hip hop. I don't always love the message of hip hop. There are times when even ... with the artists I named -- the artists I love, you know -- there's a message that is not only sometimes degrading to women; not only uses the n-word a little too frequently; but also something I'm really concerned about, it's always talking about material things. Always talking about how I can get something. How I've got more money...

Ari Melber writes for The Nation, where this post first appeared.

Follow Ari Melber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AriMelber

Comments

[tigerclause]

Obama 2008!!!

[Faye12]

It is no way for a future President to act. My goodness - he should run for a Reality Show or something. I certainly don't want a President acting like he does. Jiving and flipping people
off? This is not a joke. He is like a kid in high school.

[devadasi]

'Barack you got soul
you got soul
you got soul like no others got soul,
you got soul like Miles Davis, Marvin Gaye, Mohammad Ali,
Cornel West, Aretha Franklin, the Harlem Globetrotters,
and the New York City Fire Depeartmemnt

you got soul....'

[klintonista]

I think Obama is demonstrating his inability to return respect back to the Oval Office.

[klintonista]

African Americans.

[klintonista]

Black people.

[GwenElle]

Having just googled Jayzee's lyrics, having seen the mentions on MSNBC of the buzz on the internet about Barack's gestures (an interpretation that is being repeated on this blog), it's my opinion that it was less than wise for Obama to reference the song, if in fact that is what he was doing.

In this day of the internet and gotcha politics, there is just no way to control your image or your message. For every in-the-know person that *gets* your references, there will be at least two who do not. And as proven here, even for those who get it, there are some who will take interpretation of references way, way, way too far, i.e. Barack giving Hillary the finger.

Come on people, we are not gutter dwellers! That is Hillary and other rovian type territory.

Poster skipwild gets it as right as anyone as to what Barack was signifying: "I pick myself up, brush myself off and get back in the race". Certainly this is more in keeping with Barack's character. Barack would be wise to remember that.

[devadasi]

This is the most briliant video of Obama yet....and should be used as part of his TV ad campaign.

[laborgrunt]

The name is Jay Z

[skipwild]

Here are some lyrics from Old Blue Eyes ;

Now nothing's impossible, I've found for when my chin is on the ground,
I pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again.
Don't lose your confidence if you slip, be grateful for a pleasant trip,
And pick yourself up, dust off, start over again.
Work like a soul inspired until the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired, but you be a man, my son.
Will you remember the famous men who have to fall to rise again,
So take a deep breath, pick yourself up, start all over again.
(musical interlude)
You gotta work like a soul inspired until the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired, but you be a man, my son.
Will you remember the famous men who have to fall and then to rise again,
So take a deep breath, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.
(musical interlude)
Once again now:
Will you remember the famous men who have to fall and then rise again,
So take a deep breath, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.
(coda)
That's enough now.

Could it be that he was channeling FranK?

[OxyCon]

You people are real cowards for not posting my non-offensive comments.
Post the Jay-z lyrics if you think they are so cool.
Back up your convictions.
If you think the lyrics are cool and that they help Obama, then stand by your convictions and post them.

[brioli]

Did you read the entire article ...especially the part where Obama talked about the lyrics. you are just reaching. And...I must say...that was the coolest political move of all times. He never once mentioned JAy z on the stump.

[OxyCon]

Just what is it with you guys?
How can Obama say he likes Jay-z, but not the misogynistic and racist lyrics, and get away with it? How can he make gestures referring to such a vile song and not only get away with it, but be praised for it by his supporters?
Obama is dragging this country down with is actions, aided and abetted by you guys.
Saying you like Jay-z but not his lyrics is like saying you like Charlie Manson's artwork but not his knife work.
Obama is dragging us down into the gutter and you guys stand back and applaud.
Unfreaking­believable­.
BTW, I posted the lyrics, but for some reason they never made it here.
Does this mean that HuffPo "likes the cool message Obama sent with his gestures", but not the vile lyrics of Obama was referencing?

[PennP]

Just say no to drugs, brioli.

"I for one, as a lifelong Democrat who always votes straight party line, will vote for the Repub nominee should the overly ambitious, opportunistic fraud Barack Obama get the Dem nomination.
And I will do everything in my power to help the Repub beat Obama.
I was right about that fraud Bush and I feel the same way about the "win at all costs liar" Obama."
posted 03/02/2008 at 23:18:39 by OxyCon

[linquistic]

Whats up with you and the lyrics...Obama never recited the lyrics, he did the gesture. This gesture was out before Jay Z made that song. Jay Z just made it more popular. You keep stressing on the lyrics like Obama was on the podium rapping or something. Take a chill pill and put the oxycontin down.

[OxyCon]

"Obama never recited the lyrics, he did the gesture."

Yeah he did the gesture, which references the song that has the vile lyrics in it.
Is that plain enough for you?
You guys are dragging this country into the gutter with this stuff.
Far from being uplifting, it's degrading behavior, and it is behavior unbecoming of a President.
I know Bush lowered the bar as low as possible, but even he, as bad as he is, is not as vile as this stuff.
But you guys think this is cool. It really rings your bell.
Unreal!

[BDunne]

I was thinking the same thing.

Oxycon -- you are a bit defensive.

[OxyCon]

Why won't Ari post the lyrics to this Jay-z song if he thinks it's so cool?
Google them for yourself.

[condieshoes]

Yeah, I didn't hear a note of whine from this man. Just a lot of grace, charm, guts and grit and most of all intellect. Yup, float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

[BlackMagicWoman]

Get... that.. dirt off your shoulder!

I was at the Jay-Z concert in Philly, and when Jay put up the pic of Obama they screamed louder than they did for either Jay-Z or Mary.

G O B A M A !!!

[NURREDIN]

NEWSFLASH.... A new gallup poll in the New York Post (owned by Fox) says Obama beats McCain in the Fall. Brush "em off Big O,Brush 'em off!

[desmirl]

I thought the bit was hilarious. Of course, being an old fart, I thought he was brushing dandruff, which exactly describes the two maroooooonnns from ABC with their inane and inappropriate questions.

[PennP]

I thought it was lint. Obama's truly deft.

[venicesurfer]

obama just cant take the heat.

[SheTiffany]

He WILL take the nomination though. Thanks!

[venicesurfer]

HE'S SUCH A WHINER

[estevancarlos]

I know! Remember that time in the debate he asked about getting Hillary a pillow? What a whiner.