Is He Black Enough Now?

Barack Obama, or "B-Rock", is starting to get name dropped in hip-hop music.

Unfortunately, CNN is probably right that if Obama gets identified with hip-hop music, his opponents in the fall will try to use it as a wedge issue against him. This is true despite the fact that Obama has spoken of the need for rappers to take responsibility for their lyrics. And it's true because, by and large, the critique of rap is not quite bogus, but wildly overstated. There is a lot of racial coding going on in the White suspicion of rap music, which is unfortunate, because good hip-hop can be beautiful, illuminating, and politically conscious in a way few other musical genres are. And I say that as someone who is not, generally speaking, a fan.

Oh, and lest you think this post doesn't adequately link to the title:

Both Common and [Talib] Kweli [both rappers] bristled at one question that Obama's faced at recent presidential forums and debates: whether the candidate is "black enough."
advertisement

"It's a horrible question," Kweli said. "It's very divisive. It divides us. Obviously that man is black. I think it's utterly ridiculous."

Common laughed and said, "He looks black to me."