Crib Notes

While Sarah Palin was preparing for her guest appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” rapper Lil Wayne took the liberty to throw a lyrical diss at the Republican VP candidate and McCain while rapping onstage at the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards in Atlanta.

It was certainly a pro-Obama night at the Atlanta Civic Center, where the third annual show was taped. Even during a performance meant to honor women in hip-hop (which required calling ’80s and ’90s rappers Salt N Pepa and DJ Spinderella, the Lady of Rage, MC Lyte and Yo-Yo out of semi-retirement) a classic tune like Salt N Pepa’s sexually implicit “Push It” became a rallying cry to Barack the vote.

“In 2008, we’re pushing for change in America, and we’re pushing for Barack Obama,” said Cheryl “Salt” Wray.

The partisan show of support was no surprise, but still sorta ironic considering the BET network’s founder and former CEO Bob Johnson vehemently opposed Barack Obama’s candidacy during the Democratic primaries when he was a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter.

You can read more about how hip-hop and politics mixed at the BET HHA in this AJC story.

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First Congressman John Lewis, now rapper Young Jeezy.

In the August issue of Vibe magazine, Young Jeezy is quoted in the cover story as saying, “No disrespect to Barack, but I fuck with John McCain.”

Turns out, he meant to say the opposite. At least, that’s what he’s saying now in a classic what-had-happened-was moment. He’s even posted a YouTube video statement to clarify his position, saying “somewhere down the line my words got misconstrued.”

In the video, he wears a shirt printed with the words, “My president is black,” and aligns himself with the Democrat party, saying “I represent the streets, the struggle. I represent Democrats.”

In a not-so-ironic twist, his upcoming CD scheduled for release this summer, is titled The Recession. The high cost of gas is just one of the topics he plans to address.

The quote in question came after Jeezy met Senator McCain in May on the set of Saturday Night Live where they briefly shook hands. McCain was hosting the show and Jeezy was there performing “Love in this Club” with Usher. In the YouTube video posted last week, Jeezy disses McCain while addressing Senator Obama with the cool moniker, “Barack-O.”

Whether it’s a pure publicity stunt or a genuine flub Young Jeezy wanted to correct, it shows how much of a pop phenomenon Obama has become that a rapper of Jeezy’s commercial caliber would go so far to align himself with a presidential candidate.

But here’s something I can’t help but wonder: Can the support of a rapper like Young Jeezy — who’s been alleged to have ties to the BMF drug syndicate and nicknamed himself ‘the Snowman’ (hint, hint) earlier in his career — do more harm to Obama’s campaign than good? Or will the dope boy constituency be politically ignited to vote en masse, thereby countering those who might otherwise be offended?

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Instead of going to see Jack Johnson tonight, I think I’m just going to watch the SNL video below and take a nap — Kanye had to go and reschedule his show for 2:45 a.m., and there’s no way I’m going to miss being his black Kate Moss tonight.

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Gnarls Barkley performed on SNL this weekend. Athens staple and Elephant 6 associate Heather McIntosh (of Athens group the Instruments) played bass. McIntosh also plays cello on the new Gnarls Barkley album, The Odd Couple.

To see a full video of Gnarls Barkley performing the song, “Run (I’m A Natural Disaster)” click here.

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