Obama uses light moment with rapper to espouse free speech
ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. President Barack Obama, left, listens as Vietnamese rapper Suboi raps during a town-hall style event for the Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative (YSEALI) at the GEM Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Wednesday, May 25, 2016. Suboi rapped and asked Obama about the importance of governments promoting the arts and culture.
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam >> President Barack Obama’s parting shot before leaving communist Vietnam: let people express themselves.
He may have been referring to rap but the subtle message was aimed at his hosts who have been criticized for muzzling dissent.
During his three-day visit, Obama had spoken out strongly for human rights and free speech. On Wednesday, he brought it up again during a light moment after providing a supporting beat to a female rapper who asked him a question at a town hall meeting with hundreds of young Vietnamese.
“Before I answer your question, why don’t you give me a little rap, let’s see what you got,” Obama — his sky-blue shirt sleeves rolled up — told the rapper known as Suboi. “Come on. Do you need like a little beat?” And he went on to show off his oral beat-producing skills on the microphone.
“Vietnamese or English?” asked Suboi, Vietnam’s queen of hip-hop. “In Vietnamese, of course,” the president responded. “I won’t know what it means, but … just a short version, because I’ve got to get going. Go ahead.”
After a few seconds of Suboi’s catchy hip-hop, in which the rest of the crowd joined by providing an applause beat, Obama told her: “That was good. See there? That was pretty good” He requested the meaning of the verse and got a lesson in materialism from the 26-year-old woman.
“I was just talking about some people having a lot of money, having big houses. But actually, are they really happy?” she said. Then she went on to talk about stereotypes: how people make assumptions when they see women rappers (cute girls).
That was Obama’s cue.
“Well that’s true in the United States too … there’s always been, sort of, sexism and gender stereotypes in the music industry, like every other part of life,” he said.
He pointed out that rap, which started as an expression of poor African-Americans, is now a global phenomenon, the art form of young people around the world.
“And imagine if at the time that rap was starting off that the government had said ‘no because some of the things you say are offensive or some of the lyrics are rude or you’re cursing too much.’”
“That connection that we’ve seen now in hip-hop culture around the world wouldn’t exist. So you’ve got to let people express themselves. That’s part of what a modern 21st-century culture is all about,” he said.
With those parting words, he said goodbye to everyone and drove to the airport for the next leg of his Asia trip, to Japan.
“I’ve got to go but this has been wonderful.”
23 responses to “Obama uses light moment with rapper to espouse free speech”
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Classy and Great President!
the 58 thousand dead vietnam vets on the wall thank you
My father was a frogman in WWII. He was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star with two oak leaf clusters and two purple hearts. He never carried any enmity toward the Japanese or the Germans. When I was young, I recall them (my father and German immigrant friends), drinking bourbon and lifting their shirts showing each other their scars.It’s over. It’s done. Intelligent people can move on.
Honestly, some people are beyond reason. They can only serve as examples of others of what not to become. To this, we can one tool. Mockery. America fought an insurgency against filipino fighters. We are moving back into Subic Bay. America fought two wars against Germany. We now count them as one of our most reliable European allies. We threw off the yokel of English Crown Oppression. They are one of our oldest allies. We invaded Canada. We now share North American air defense with a joint Canadian-US staff.
I would be gratified if you could explain that in English so i could respond. Thanks 🙂
Cellodad, our former enemies are now are friends, but some people cannot see this like Juke.
You must be really ashamed at how close American ties with the British are these days.
Huh? My father completed joint operations in New Guinea and was given a Black Watch kilt that I still have.
Cellodad, I was replying to juke.
Actually, on a national and political level, there is no such thing as “friendship” between countries. There are, however, common interests.
“And imagine if at the time that rap was starting off that the government had said ‘no because some of the things you say are offensive or some of the lyrics are rude or you’re cursing too much.’”
Now if only the left and our institutions of higher learning practiced that same kind of free expression instead of suppressing those with whom they disagree.
Alan Dershowitz, Harvard’s prolific law professor and a supporter of Summers’ achievements as president, saw through the protestation of dissenting faculty who paraded the notion that their problem with Summers was merely over his autocratic leadership style. The real issue, according to Dershowitz, is that Summers’ articulation of controversial stands on current issues violated the intellectual sensitivities of the left-leaning professors. “Many of the same people who correctly insist on greater ‘diversity’ based on gender, race and ethnicity seek homogeneity of viewpoints,” said Dershowitz. “They want more colleagues who share their ideologically fixed positions. The last thing they want is diversity of viewpoint, especially on issues of gender, race and politics.”
The lack of intellectual diversity on college campuses.
He do like da rappers
Oh my. It’s May 25, 2016 and the President of the United States is still African-American. It really hurts you guys, doesn’t it?
The other world leaders thought Obama was off his rocker and felt truly embarrassed for the rest of the Americans.
Which ones?
You misspelled Trump there.
Very painful and very humiliating !
What, to have an African-American President. You’re awfully sensitive.
and he is still incompetent. That’s the problem. Oh, he’s half whitee.
Are you serious? Or are you speaking from the grave. “whitee” is exactly what i was looking for when I posted. You guys are amazingly ignorant.
You got what you were looking for. BTW Love the frogmen. What don’t you understand about incompetent?
and…thank you. You proved my point.
Cello, who’s “you guys”?