One of Obama's most famous fans reemerges for the midterms, but at a careful distance.
Ari MelberIn a new public service announcement released on Tuesday, the popular rapper Jay-Z urges young Americans to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
"Our generation changed the world," proclaims Jay-Z, and he calls on young people to "fight for what’s right." The footage is from a June 2010 concert at Bonnaroo. Headcount, a nonpartisan organization that registers voters at concerts, produced the spot, which will run on CBS and cable channels.
The ad does not mention Obama or the Democrats. Jay-Z’s politics are closely associated with Obama, however, since he did major campaign events and videos for Obama’s 2008 campaign. In addition, during inauguration weekend, Obama introduced Jay-Z when he performed at the campaign’s official staff party, while Jay-Z’s wife, Beyonce, sang for the Obamas’ first inaugural dance.
Obama has also been reaching out to generation hip hop recently. He did a concert rally last weekend with the rap group The Roots, recorded a youth town hall with MTV, and sat down with that famous interview for Rolling Stone. So far, however, Jay-Z is only helping from a distance.
Below is the new public service announcement, followed by a "Know Your Rights" video created by the 2008 Obama campaign starring Jay-Z.
Ari MelberTwitterAri Melber is The Nation's Net movement correspondent, covering politics, law, public policy and new media, and a regular contributor to the magazine's blog. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and a J.D. from Cornell Law School, where he was an editor of the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy. Contact Ari: on Facebook, on Twitter, and at amelber@hotmail.com. Melber is also an attorney, a columnist for Politico and a contributing editor at techPresident, a nonpartisan website covering technology’s impact on democracy. During the 2008 general election, he traveled with the Obama Campaign on special assignment for The Washington Independent. He previously served as a Legislative Aide in the US Senate and as a national staff member of the 2004 John Kerry Presidential Campaign. As a commentator on public affairs, Melber frequently speaks on national television and radio, including including appearances on NBC, CNBC, CNN, CNN Headline News, C-SPAN, MSNBC, Bloomberg News, FOX News, and NPR, on programs such as “The Today Show,” “American Morning,” “Washington Journal,” “Power Lunch,” "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell," "The Joy Behar Show," “The Dylan Ratigan Show,” and “The Daily Rundown,” among others. Melber has also been a featured speaker at Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Columbia, NYU, The Center for American Progress and many other institutions. He has contributed chapters or essays to the books “America Now,” (St. Martins, 2009), “At Issue: Affirmative Action,” (Cengage, 2009), and “MoveOn’s 50 Ways to Love Your Country,” (Inner Ocean Publishing, 2004). His reporting has been cited by a wide range of news organizations, academic journals and nonfiction books, including the The Washington Post, The New York Times, ABC News, NBC News, CNN, FOX News, National Review Online, The New England Journal of Medicine and Boston University Law Review. He is a member of the American Constitution Society, he serves on the advisory board of the Roosevelt Institute and lives in Manhattan.