Ludacris Lobbies for VP in Obama Tribute Rap, Obama Spokesman Lashes Back

As Ludacris knows, no rap album is complete these days without a tribute to Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Thus, the rapper included his ode to Obama, dubbed "Politics," on his new mixtape with DJ Drama, The Preview. Luda claims that he's both one of Obama's favorite rapper and on the candidate's iPod, so that's good for a presidential pardon if he's "ever in the slammer." In our interview with Barack Obama, Obama admitted that he knows Ludacris, say maybe he'll take Luda seriously when he lobbies for the role of Vice President in the song. Ludacris also demands "Get off your ass, black people, it's time to get out and vote" and "Paint the White House black." He then goes off on McCain ("He don't belong in any chair unless he's paralyzed") and even calls George W. Bush "mentally handicapped." "The world is ready for change because Obama is here," the coda goes as Ludacris closes out a tribute song that's somehow even more controversial than Nas' "Black President."

UPDATE: On July 30th, an Obama spokesman responded to Ludacris' song in a statement that called the track "outrageously offensive." Bill Burton said: "As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn't want his daughters or any children exposed to. This song is not only outrageously offensive to Senator Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics."

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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