Jay-Z Uploads New Video for Obama

The rapper and music mogul Jay-Z cut a new video today, but there's no fancy cars or beautiful women in this number. This one is about Change.

The flamboyant rapper uploaded a spare, serious message on Barack Obama's official YouTube channel, advising Michigan residents on the state rules for voting. "Even if you don't have I.D. you can still vote," he says. This is not the first time Obama and Jay-Z have met on YouTube, as I wrote during the primary, though it does show the Obama campaign's sophisticated use of celebrity support and online organizing. The campaign is tapping Jay-Z's star status for targeted education and mobilization, and leaving the press aside. (There has been no press release about the video so far.) And Michigan, home of a famous music scene in Detroit and a large African American Democratic base, might just listen to Jay-Z's advice.

Comments (16)

1. Wow, weren't we just talking about the fact that ACORN, massively funded by the Obama campaign, is being investigated for perpetrating massive voter fraud across the nation? Boy, they sure change the subjects fast around here!

   Posted by pontificus at 10/16/2008 @ 5:26pm

2. Al Jazeera camera crew caught the honest sentiments of McCain/Palin supporters at an Ohio rally:

   "I'm afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He's not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?"

   "When you got a Negra running for president, you need a first stringer. He's definitely a second stringer."

   "He seems like a sheep - or a wolf in sheep's clothing to be honest with you. And I believe Palin - she's filled with the Holy Spirit, and I believe she's gonna bring honesty and integrity to the White House."

   "He's related to a known terrorist, for one."

   "He is friends with a terrorist of this country!"

   "He must support terrorists! You know, uh, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. And that to me is Obama."

   "Just the whole, Muslim thing, and everything, and everybody's still kinda - a lot of people have forgotten about 9/11, but… I dunno, it's just kinda… a little unnerving."

   "Obama and his wife, I'm concerned that they could be anti-white. That he might hide that."

   "I don't like the fact that he thinks us white people are trash… because we're not!"

   Yep, McCain must be so proud.

   Posted by Metteyya at 10/16/2008 @ 5:37pm

3. LOL....LVLIB thought Curtis LeMay was a "centrist"!

   Posted by Maskdelta at 10/16/2008 @ 7:59pm

4. I am not a fan of Jay-Z...but he is far from a "mindless thug".

   Posted by rockytt at 10/16/2008 @ 10:13pm

5. oh, for crying out loud, pontificus, quit with the pontificating.

   Oh wait. That's your alias-name. I forgot. You actually CHOSE to name yourself after the verb that means "to mindlessly bloviate". I forgot.

   First of all, there's not that much there to acuse ACORN of. Some of ACORN's employees registered voters who don't exist. ACORN turned in the bogus registrations as part of their own self-policing measures. And furthermore, that is NOT vote fraud because NO fraudulent votes were cast. A nonexistent registration does not translate into a fraudulent vote because the fake registrees never voted.

   that's more than can be said for the wierd ass shit that your boy Georgie B pulled four years ago in Ohio with the help of Diebold.

   good luck trying to revive that topic. really, there's nothing there.

   Posted by maddox at 10/16/2008 @ 10:27pm

6. ->Al Jazeera<-

   Don't get me started on Al Jazeera. I refuse to watch it any longer.

   When they moved the weekly beheadings to the same time slot opposite Wheel Of Fortune, I'd had enough.

   The nerve of that bunch.

   Posted by bleedingheart at 10/17/2008 @ 12:12am

7. Posted by Posted by bleedingheart at 10/17/2008 @ 12:12am

   lol i like it when people who have never seen al-Jazeera post inane xenophobic and racist rants like bleedingheart here. not only does it solidify the common notion of the ugly american, but throws in ignorant american to boot. i remember my first chance to see al-Jazeera while in Thailand. contrary to the rantings of the right-wing-nuts, turned out to be an informative news channel that covered global politics--from the US to South America and yes, the Mid East. i know for folks like bleedingheart al-Jazeera must strike fear, since their top anchormen, and women, are often people of color. But not to worry, there are more than a few white males to make u feel comfy too. after all, al-Jazeera was founded by a *secular* Arab businessman who modeled it after the BBC. in fact, al-Jazeera, before it began reporting honestly from Iraq and Afghanistan, was hailed positively by the US. now, like several repressive regimes around the world, the US has decided to smear the station for giving them bad press. guess that whole "freedom of speech" thing has pre-conditions. today about the only people who would think they'd see beheadings on al-Jazeera are wing-nut xenophobes who've been brain damaged by FAUX Noise, or those too ass-backwards to get a passport.

   Sin

   Posted by sincere1906 at 10/17/2008 @ 08:54am

8. @ madlib

   u know u have the same name of a great underground emcee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madlib), but tragically none of his sense. not a huge fan of Jay-Z, because my Hip Hop comes from less commercial sources. but to call him a mindless thug because he happens to pick up a mic and rhyme, is rather reductionist, and... well...mindless thuggery in of itself.

   Sin

   Posted by sincere1906 at 10/17/2008 @ 09:00am

9. Talk about a mindless thug.

   Posted by madlib at 10/16/2008 @ 7:28pm

   With this statement, it's obvious you don't know what a thug is.

   Posted by k330k at 10/17/2008 @ 09:14am

10. Posted by sincere1906 at 10/17/2008 @ 08:54am

    Umm, the term Ugly American comes from a book that talks about ignorant Americans abroad. Ignorant is already in the notion. It is not being added, "to boot".

    For clarity, Hamad bin Khalifa is the secular Arab businessman you are referring to? You are aware that his government recognizes Islam as the offical religion and uses Islamic jurispudence? Think you have to do a little more work to claim he's "secular".

    While I agree al-Jazeera can be a good source of news, it has the same problems of any media outlet trying to survive on advertising - which means it needs to give positive coverage to the governments in countries it operates, pro-business to appease it's advertisers, and it needs to cater to the audience it sells to advertisers.

    In other words, it has many of the same problems as Fox News, CNN and other American media outlets. But, you are correct that it's not any worse, and to the degree it has independent revenue for the Emir, you might be able to argue it has more independence.

    Posted by srjenkins at 10/17/2008 @ 09:52am

11. Posted by Metteyya at 10/16/2008 @ 5:37pm

    "He is friends with a terrorist of this country!"

    Excuse me, but isn't Obama's career tied with Bill Ayers, who was and remains an unrepentant domestic terrorist? Didn't they work together for years to indoctrinate children in Chicago schools in left wing propaganda, and didn't Obama launch his political career in Ayers' living room? I believe that's all on the record and accurate. Just fact checking here.

    Posted by pontificus at 10/17/2008 @ 11:02am

12. ponti-No.Obama did not launch his career in Ayers house and did not work together to indoctrinate children,but,in fact,sat on a board together that was put together by a Reagan republican and the board included conservative business people.Try to get informed so we don't have to tell you this stuff.

    Posted by i'm nobody at 10/17/2008 @ 12:35pm

13. "Didn't they work together for years to indoctrinate children in Chicago schools in left wing propaganda"Posted by pontificus at 10/17/2008 @ 11:02am

    Right. They couldn't have been working, along with other Republicans, to provide a better education for American children. Fuck American children. It's Chicago. What the hell do the children of Chicago need with education anyhow?

    "Just fact checking here."

    Yeah, sure you are.

    Posted by k330k at 10/17/2008 @ 2:23pm

14. sincere1906,

    Bouse Tizi !!

    Posted by bleedingheart at 10/17/2008 @ 3:10pm

15. >>> Just fact checking here.

    Posted by pontificus at 10/17/2008 @ 11:02am <<<

    Then you should check these facts from factcheck.org:

    "He Lied" About Bill Ayers?

    October 10, 2008

    McCain cranks out some false and misleading attacks on Obama's connection to a 1960s radical.

    Summary In a TV ad, McCain says Obama "lied" about his association with William Ayers, a former bomb-setting, anti-war radical from the 1960s and '70s. We find McCain's claim to be groundless. New details have recently come to light, but nothing Obama said previously has been shown to be false.

    In a Web ad and in repeated attacks from the stump, McCain describes the two as associates, and Palin claims they "pal around" together. But so far as is known, their relationship was never very close. An Obama spokesman says they last saw each other in a chance encounter on the street more than a year ago.

    McCain says in an Internet ad that the two "ran a radical 'education' foundation" in Chicago. But the supposedly "radical" group was supported by a Republican governor and included on its board prominent local civic leaders, including one former Nixon administration official who has given $1,500 to McCain's campaign this year. Education Week says the group's work "reflected mainstream thinking" among school reformers. The group was the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, started by a $49 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, which was established by the publisher Walter Annenberg, a prominent Republican whose widow, Leonore, is a contributor to the McCain campaign.

    Posted by Metteyya at 10/17/2008 @ 4:25pm

16. Posted by pontificus at 10/17/2008 @ 11:02am

    If Ayers is such a horrible terrorist, why are prominent REPUBLICANS "paling around with Ayers" on the same charity board as Obama?

    The plain fact is that Ayers misadventures were done in his youth 40 years ago, and he has since gone on to get his Ph.d and has become a tenured professor at the University of Illinois.

    I am sure there are some things you have done in your youth that you regret as well.

    This is Ayers thing is classic "divide and distract" politics started by Atwater and continued by Rove. But this time it is simply being used as cover for white racist McCain supporters who can now point to Ayers as their reason to vote against Obama rather than the color of his skin.

    The American voter is tired of distractions of this sort, and are punishing McCain in the polls for continuing these distractions from the kitchen table issues they really care about.

    "Divide and distract" only works when the voters you are trying to distract are unaware that you are trying to distract them. Once they become aware, they get pissed off at you for trying to change the subject and for trying to manipulate them as though they are stupid.

    Posted by Metteyya at 10/17/2008 @ 4:37pm