Obama's Campaign Blasts Ludacris Over New Mixtape Track
Published: Thursday - July 31, 2008
Words by Miles Bennett
Barack Obama and Ludacris meeting in Chicago in 2006 (Photo: AP)
Ludacris recently dropped a track on his latest mixtape with DJ Drama called Gangsta Grillz: The Preview, in which he shows his support for presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
However, in a few lines that Obama called "outrageously offensive," Luda goes at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Republican Sen. John McCain and President Bush. Obama's campaign was not pleased, despite Luda being a supporter and publicly endorsing the black candidate.
On the track, "Politics As Usual", the Atlanta rapper says that "bitch is irrelevant," referring to Hillary, says Bush is "mentally handicapped," and later says McCain doesn't belong in "any chair unless he's paralyzed."
White politicians weren't the only targets on the track. Luda even goes at Rev. Jesse Jackson, who recently apologized for making crude comments about Obama, which Nas responded to in Obama's defense. "If you said it then you meant it," Luda raps.
Obama's campaign blasted the new track in a statement, adding that Ludacris "should be ashamed of these lyrics."
"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," campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. "This song is not only outrageously offensive to Sen. Clinton, Rev. Jackson, Sen. 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."
Ludacris has been a big supporter of Sen. Obama since the beginning, and the presidential candidate even said Luda was one of the "great talents and great businessmen" in hip-hop in a past interview with Rolling Stone. He even met privately with Ludacris in Chicago in 2006, before announcing his plans to run for president.
Not only does Luda attack Obama's critics and foes, but also encouraged black people to vote come Election Day, exclaiming that "the world is ready for a change."
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