Obama, You Got Me
Yeah, I know I've been quiet this summer. I've been running so hard it's been a minute since I had the time to blog in this space. But something got me fired up last week. It got me so inspired I feel like I'm 19 years old and ready to take on the world again. It was Barack Obama's convention speech.
I've read and heard all the opinions. Plenty of people have had something to say about this. So why do I feel the need to weigh in now? I've always been the guy who found politics boring, and I haven't trusted anyone in Washington to do anything for me for a long while. It had no relevance to me, and I never really got what all the hype about Obama was about. But now I get it. The guy won me over. He touched me in a way no politician ever has before. He hit all the right notes and he hit 'em hard. I was the undecided voter Obama needed to reach with his words, and now he has my full attention.
What resonated with me the most was when he said: "It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it."
That to me sums up what's been the problem with the old way of doing this on all fronts. The old guard ain't bad necessarily. It's just that they don't understand that there's a new reality, and a new way of doing things that's a better fit for our times. When these guys fight change they stand in the way of progress and push back the energy and drive of the young. It hurts their future, and everybody else's.
But Obama's words gave me an energy I haven't felt since I got started in the music business, when I believed anything was possible. That's a powerful thing.
So when I woke up the next day and checked out all the blogs in the black media, I was shocked. I read that Tavis Smiley thought King's legacy was being "glossed over" and that Rev. Jesse Jackson was mad that King's famous speech was "being reduced to a soundbite." A whole bunch of commentators were complaining that Martin Luther King wasn't getting enough respect, and that referring to him as "a young preacher from Georgia" was somehow a dis. It felt like they didn't even hear the same words I heard. But what hurt me the most was when Dr. Cornel West, a man I really admire and respect, said Obama was "running from history."
For real?! Exactly why was Obama supposed to be giving everyone a history lesson in his speech when the whole point was to talk about the future? What he said was exactly what he needed to say to introduce himself to apolitical folks like me and get us fired up and ready to make a change. It was his job to lay out the plan that will bring America into the 21st century, and that's what he did.
I want to know where we're going and how we're going to get there, not where we've already been. It's his actions that carry the torch for MLK, not some boring tribute to the past that other people expect him to make. That's the kind of bullshit that old people who've been here forever get stuck on. They're missing the point. They're forgetting that when they followed Martin Luther King they were young themselves. They were looking ahead, not backwards.
You name me one single politician or president in living memory who could get a standing ovation from 84,000 people before he even spoke. More than 40 million people were watching -- more than anyone paying attention to the Olympics. If anything, even a leader of Clinton's caliber might get a few boos. I've been in the music business my whole life and I've never seen anything close to that kind of excitement in a crowd.
It was intriguing to me to see how the dude caught these people. Obama came out with a power that no world leader has. He commands that kind of crowd because he brings something that goes beyond politics. What I was watching from my home in Los Angeles, Obama had me through the whole 45 minute speech. No one can grab my attention like that! Anyone who knows me can tell you I can't even sit still for five minutes, but I watched that speech from begin to end. His words and mindset spoke to me in a way that's relevant to my life.
Obama's movement is about us, and what we can do to shake things up. He delivers the drive in people to want to do things that make change. That's why older people who've held their spot forever -- the John McCains and Jesse Jacksons of this world -- find him a threat. They have to fuss about the small stuff that has no relevance to the big picture of our future because they got nothin'!
It reminds me of the beef between Ice T and Soulja Boy. Ice T said Soulja Boy was "single-handedly killing hip hop." But whose hip hop? Soulja Boy speaks to his own generation. He makes songs that sound great on a ringtone and get millions of hits on YouTube -- something Ice T could never do today.
No disrespect to these older dudes, but it's not about you, it's about the destiny of our kids. Just because it's new and different doesn't mean it's bad. I run into the same kind of mentality with older executives in the music industry. The business is failing because they're stuck in the old ways of doing things, but they resist the ideas of younger people like me. I've been battling this way of thinking my whole life. When I first started making music in Atlanta, people said I was too country, and that the music of the South would never have the flava of what was going on in New York or LA. Now everyone's coming to Atlanta. It's the mecca of music. Times change.
Things don't need to stay stuck in one gear. If we keep trying to fight progress, it's gonna march right past us. We need to be inspiring young people instead of always telling them what they're doing wrong. That's why I wrote my book, "Young, Rich and Dangerous." There aren't enough people with credentials who can speak to the younger generation and influence them the right way. A few months ago I blogged about the fact that young black people fall off because they don't have a bridge generation that can listen to them without judging them and set them on a path to a better future. Black or white, Obama is a good bridge. We have a long way to go, but he's a start.
That's why it's time for people like myself, who have real influence with kids, to inspire them to get out there and vote. Obama's not going to be able to bring America into the future if the younger generation doesn't get behind him in a way that counts at the polls. He's got my vote, but he needs yours. Now I'm gonna go out there and do everything I can. Because it is time for a change.
Jermaine Dupri, who was named the most successful R&B producer of all time by the Guinness World Records 2007, is a Grammy-award winning music producer, president of Island Urban Records and author of Young, Rich and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul (Atria, October 2007). For more information about this blogger, click here.
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Wonderfully said, J! The interesting dynamic is that Barack is motivating sooooo many people of diverse backgrounds and ages...I've never seen my older relatives so excited to be a part of a campaign season...I mean, they are fired up and ready to go!!! Not to mention the young adults he's inspired...there is something to be said about that. He has sound judgement, vision, and the fear of God on his side. Barack's on the right road...we just have to make sure he doesn't run out of gas! OneLove, my dear brother.
Thank you Jermaine,I agree with your posting whole-heartely. You said in a commercial that you are called "The Boss' because of your musical talents, please don't sell yourself short, you also have a brilliant mind, I am so proud of you for using your influence to "wake up everybody". You could do more in one day than most can do in a lifetime.
Again thank you....
Godspeed
Jermaine, great post! Obama and the new dems are about "we" and Mc, the GOp and the tired old guard, are all about "me". I think this is what they do not and will never understand. They seem to believe that we serve them when it is they who serve. The American people are tired of this and there will be change in November.
There is hope! Thank you for your post...I am very glad Obama is making a strong impact on the influential African Americans such as yourself because how the older generation has reacted is appalling. He needs all votes, he needs everyone to mobilize and get him elected for the good of the country. Inspiring? Yes, he is that...but he is also a brilliant leader who will make the necessary changes to turn around the path of self-destruction this country is in as a result of misguided leadership in the past 8 years.
Suggest that you focus on carrying your message through your most natural venue...music. Maybe a concert to rally the millions of people that are apathetic and think as you thought before you heard Obama speak last week.
Absolutely right, JD - he who forgets his history is likely to repeat it....forward thinking men make good history!
O8AMA/ Biden 08
...fired up and ready to go....
"he who forgets his history is likely to repeat it"
I wonder if the Obama and the Democrats remember Jimmy Carter?
I wonder if McCain and the Republican party remember hmmm......George H.W. Bush?
Great Job Jermaine, I totally agree with you...Martin, was a great man who stood up against unbelieveable forces to inspire other to do they same. Just like Obama he inspires other to dream bigger then themselves. I think ,if Martin was alive today he would be so proud of the fires he ignited!!! I have a nine year old son, who on that night of the speech I allowed Barack's words to rock him to sleep, with the hopes that someday he to could inspire others.
Dupri, you're a good writer man.
Obama cannot win if he markets himself as a minority candidate.
He must present as a president to all races.
All people.
He hasn't marketed himself that way but just like any other group in this country it's ok for Af-Ams to come out in his favor. We are having this discussion not Obama.
you are darn right. He will be an American President, and by virtue of his election, a person supported by the people with overwhelmingly majority of small donations. i MEAN REALLY OVER 2 MILLION REGULAR WORKING FOLKS GAVE TO THIS CAMPAIGN.
tHIS SI THE CAMPAIGN FOR ALL FO AMERICA. i FELT SO INSPIRED. i FELL LIKE I HAVE BEEN LICK IN MY HOUSE AND THE WORLD HAD GONE INSANE OUTSIDE. But after that speech, i had to tell all my FRIENDS get up get out, go make someone else better.............and we all will be better.
AMERICA needs an inspirational leader
who is also pragmatic, intelligent and truthful
That's
Obama/Biden
Wow...well said Jermaine. Welcome to the family!
To correct my earlier post Jesse Jackson Jr.'s son was there, who is on O's campaign.
What a dynamic, well thought out, to the point post! Very moving, as you defined a moment that I felt as well, I had to laugh after the fact, during his speech I and my husband literally sat there transfixed from begin to end with our mouths hitting the floor, other than my few tears as I was moved. And you are right, there is that something, JFK, Bobby and Martin had that "wow" factor which made you pay attention and you can't define it (they were before your time) . I have Repub friends who said O motivated them to vote otherwise, the guy is sincere and so is his wife. And like you I was so disheartened about the flap up about MLK and Obama not interjecting him or a diss, Malveaux said something about airbrushing history...and you said it best, that's then, this is now. It's his history to make, we cling on to legacies sometimes as if history can't be made for the next generation. It will be up to the next generation to talk about MLK, what they will remember is Barack, a man of their era. And the ironic part of it all, MLK's offspring was there, Jesse Jackson Jr campaigning for O was there, why don't the elders give it up? One day perhaps I see him being the figure my kids quote and talk about and I am of the old school, which is why I get what you are saying! Thanks!
I gotta agree with Senator Obama:
"It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it."
We spoken.
We cannot have somebody who "doesn't get it" [like Bush or McCain] in the White House, considering all the responsibilities involved and having the power to launch nuclear weapons at a moment's notice.
No thanks.
Nice column. I agree. Sen. Obama definitely needs young people to turnout in large numbers in order to be successful.
As I tried to say earlier, For the old school politicos like Jesse Jackson or Earl Ofari Hutchinson, the threat of a fresh new way of thinking and the small chance that it might succeed in bringing to an end the issues on which they depend for their bread and butter, makes them unlikely to support, much less share the national stage with another Black Man who has the power to make that happen.
Yasser Arafat is a prime example of a man given the opportunity to bring a just and lasting peace to his people and the middle east, but who walked away from the table when he realized that peace would make him an expendable dinosaur. These guys are no different.
Well said. Couldn't agree with you more. Obama is the ONE.
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