Kind of a weird week for hip-hop’s support of Barack Obama, as he’s gained a huge supporter in Will.I.Am, while 50 has predicted his assassination should he be elected president.

First the good. Will.I.Am of Black Eyed Peas has recorded a campaign themesong for Barack Obama, based on one of Obama’s speeches with the key-word being “Yes We Can”. The song and video feature among others Common Sense, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Scarlett Johansson and John Legend. Rather puzzling singer Esthero is also featured, yet she’s from Canada and probably can’t register to vote. She is however a hell of a singer (check Last Emp’s “One Life” for proof) and a good friend of Will.I.Am so that probably explains it.

I don’t recall anyone turning full political speeches into songs since drummer Keith LeBlanc from the Sugar Hill Records houseband cut “Malcolm X” in the ’80’s. Don’t know if Will.I.Am’s former employer, Eazy-E, would have approved, but I think the idea’s awesome. Will.I.Am can be a total pop-genius and insanely annoying at the same time, but at least he’s different. Here’s the song and video, directed by Bob Dylan’s son Jesse Dylan:

Now the not so good. 50 Cent has chosen not to endorce Obama, as he fears for the candidate’s life. He therefore has chosen to support Hillary Clinton instead. While this might appear weird to us as Europeans, we have to remember that the assassination of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, along with those of John F Kennedy and Robert Kennedy to some degree effectively killed off the civil rights movement and alot of the African American trust in the political system. So 50 mimicking 2pac’s line “We ain’t ready to see a Black president” isn’t all that farfetched.

Here’s the clip of Bill O’Reilly’s comments about 50 Cent (or ‘Fiddy’ as he mockingly spews):

And here’s 50 Ferrari’s retort:

50 has a quality similar to George W in that he’s a way better speaker than people think, so even if it’s not rocket science sometimes they surprise people by being eloquent enough to put together an argument. My girlfriend actually said the same exact thing as 50 Cent when I told her about the “Yes We Can” video and movement. Of course there’s a possibility that everything turns out honkydory but history doesn’t have a great track record for political leaders that appeal to the downtrodden. As for an African American vice president, Chris Rock once said the following:

“Now as you know, there’s been alot of talk about a black vice president. And I just wanna tell the world that it’ll never happen. As long as you live you will never see a black vice president, you know why? Because some black guy would just kill the president. I’d do it.”