Public Enemy’s Chuck D recently sat down with The Daily Beast to discuss everything from the state of hip-hop today, to the current circus that is the Presidential election.
You can’t have a profound discussion about hip-hop without mentioning the socially conscience group that is Public Enemy. They changed music forever with their thought-provoking lyrics that made you stand up and take notice of the world around you.
Their 12th studio album, The Evil Empire of Everything, is set to drop on November 6th, and I’m sure they’ll bring that same Public Enemy voice they’ve brought over the last 25 years.
With that being said, I have to take issue with Chuck D’s comments about President Barack Obama.
Here’s what he said about the current Presidential election:
What are your thoughts on the presidential election?
[Deep sigh] I’ve always liked Obama the man, but he’s made to respond to how the New World Order wants him to respond. Romney’s no different.
Obama can’t serve the black community; he can only serve the needs of people who are disenfranchised, and there’s a lot of black people who are, but he’s gotta serve a lot of other communities, too. The president could really be more destructive than anything, so just having a president be not as destructive as some of the rhetoric’s of the past is helpful. George W. Bush was running roughshod all over the rest of the world.
Of course Chuck D is entitled to his opinion, and has every right to express his feelings about the President.
What I take issue with is this notion of New World Order and conspiracy theories that there are two Obamas.
I could never wrap my head around this theory that the President is being controlled or is being pulled by strings like a puppet.
“I’ve always liked Obama the man…He’s made to respond to how the New World Order wants him to respond. Romney’s no different.”
Obama grew up on the same American streets as you and I and chose a path that was best for him. This notion that the President is “made” as if he were a robot, I can’t ride with.
If Chuck is referring to the politician “mold” that Obama has adapted where he repeats the same talking point, spits out the same facts over and over again like an assembly line, then that’s different, that’s called politicking. After all, he’s trying to get re-elected!
But I believe Obama is being as genuine as he can be as he continues to play the Washington D.C. bureaucratic game.
And this idea that Obama can’t serve the black community, only the disenfranchised, doesn’t make sense. Obama was elected to serve the American people and not different sects of the country. Obama even said it himself; he is not the President of black America.
There have been poor disenfranchised white people before we had a black President.
I do agree however that the President can be more assertive and aggressive, not on the scale of George W. Bush, but in terms of dealing with Republican opposition.
Hopefully in his second term, the shackles of pleasantry will be off and we will see another Obama.
Shaka Griffith is the News/Politics Editor of GlobalGrind.com Follow him on Twitter and send your thoughts, rants and outburst to @Darealshaka
