The YouTube Obama Girl is history. As far as rap fans are concerned, Nas just wrote the Democratic nominee’s unofficial anthem.
“Black President” was leaked onto the Internet last Friday by DJ Green Lantern, who produced the track for Nas’ upcoming street disc, “The (racial epithet) Mixtape,” which hit the Web this week. Within hours, the cut triggered thousands of reactions on sites including HipHopGame.com and HipHopDX.com.
The track starts with Obama being introduced as the next president of the United States. Nas calls Obama a “new, improved JFK” and says the Illinois senator “provides hope and challenges minds of all races and colors to erase the hate.”
For the hook, Nas and Lantern sampled an ironic verse from the 1997 single “I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto” by the late Tupac Shakur: “Although it may seem heaven sent, we ain’t ready to see a black president.”
“Nas not only supports the idea of Obama being president,” Lantern told HipHopGalaxy.com, “he actually questions it in the second verse in true Nas fashion. (“I can trust this brother,” raps Nas, “but will he keep it way real?”). “He’s positive and uplifting, but critical at the same time.”
According to Lantern, Nas liked “Black President” so much that he decided to make the track a late addition to his already controversial July 15 release. Nas originally announced the CD’s title would be the N-word, but was persuaded to change it to “Untitled.” The album’s cover photo, released by Def Jam on Monday, features the letter N on Nas’ back in whip marks.
