President Barack Obama is the only American president you could reliably trust to DJ a party. (Bill Clinton’s sax swag is hardly a marvel.) Politics aside, it might be a while before the United States elects another president whose cultural compass is as fresh and youthful as Obama’s. An elder member of the Hip-Hop Generation (at 53, he’s still younger than Chuck D), he’s the first sitting president to endorse American music made in the 21st century. In his two terms, President Obama has modernized, diversified, and redefined what the United States considers Americana. So it's worth reflecting on a few of the songs he’s listened to, cited, and disavowed in the past seven years. Oh, and ones he’s sung. (We have a president who fucking sings!) God Bless America.
Here’s a by-no-means-comprehensive playlist of those songs.
OutKast: "Liberation" [ft. Cee-Lo, Erykah Badu and Big Rube] / The Black Keys: "Lonely Boy"
In a recent Twitter Q&A, President Obama cited OutKast (Aquemini OutKast!) and the Black Keys as two artists he was listening to recently. Big Boi threw it up on his Insta but the Keys, rarely without a clever response at hand, asked Obama if they could use Air Force One for upcoming tour dates. He declined.
The National: "Fake Empire"
The Obama campaign licensed the band’s "Fake Empire" instrumental for this killer campaign video and picked the Ohio-native band for a 2008 rally in their infamously swingy home state.
Bob Dylan: "Maggie’s Farm"
In his first presidential campaign, President Obama cited to Rolling Stone his favorite Dylan record was 1975's Blood on the Tracks. But "Maggie's Farm" off 1965’s Bringing It All BackHome is "one of my favorites during the political season," he said. "It speaks to me as I listen to some of the political rhetoric."
Jay Z: "Dirt Off Your Shoulder"
In one of the finest moments of his first campaign, Obama borrowed some of Jay Z’s swag, brushing dirt off his shoulder. "Every time I talk to Jay Z, who is a brilliant talent and a good guy, I enjoy how he thinks," Obama told Rolling Stone. "He's serious and he cares about his art. That's somebody who is going to start branching out and can help shape attitudes in a real positive way."
Ludacris: "Politics As Usual (Obama’s Here)"
Though Obama is buddies with Jay Z, his relationship with latter-day hip-hop culture has been uneasy at times (remember when he low-key called Kanye West a "jackass"?). During his first campaign, a mixtape track from Ludacris and DJ Drama off 2008’s The Preview—intended purely for shit-talking DatPiff users—burst into the cable news-driven political outrage cycle. Ludacris endorsed Obama, naturally, and dissed Hillary Clinton and John McCain. But Obama wasn’t having it. "Politics As Usual (Obama’s Here)" is the only rap mixtape track ever to get a formal condemnation by a presidential campaign.
Brad Paisley: "Welcome to the Future"
Paisley gave an emotional performance of this American Saturday Night track, written in the wake of President Obama’s 2008 election, for the President and First Lady at a White House celebration of country music in 2009. "I know folks think that I'm a city boy," Obama said, introducing Paisley, "but I do appreciate listening to country music because, like all Americans, I do appreciate the broad and indelible impact that country has had on our nation." Paisley was beside himself. "Your dream as a songwriter," he said, "is to write an account of a current event and deliver it for the person who it is about."
Al Green: "Let's Stay Together"
Then, in his second term, President Obama started singing. Still fresh off his re-election and days before his second inaugural, Obama must’ve been feeling awfully good—doubly so, to be at the Apollo Theater—to bust out a vocal this silky smooth. It’s the sound of Obama getting his groove back.
Robert Johnson: "Sweet Home Chicago"
It’s easy to overlook President Obama’s post-"Let’s Stay Together" performance at Red, White and Blues (stream the whole program here). Cable news wasn’t there to capture and play it interminably. But the finale—with Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr. and the late B.B. King on the bandstand—went viral with Buddy Guy goading the president into singing a few bars of "Sweet Home Chicago". Obama, reluctant at first, obliges on his way out the door with First Lady Michelle Obama.
Traditional: "Amazing Grace"
More than Obama’s singing here—a solemn moment at South Carolina State Senator Clementa Pinckney’s funeral service last month—is his powerful silence beforehand. When he gets a few bars in at 0:41, someone off-camera catches the spirit. "Sing it, my president!" they shout, which honestly may be the best thing anyone’s said about an American president. Incredibly powerful.
Slow Jamming the News
This counts, right? Sure, he’s just talking, but jamming with Jimmy Fallon and the Roots on "The Tonight Show" like this is the only way President Obama’s going to get college students to pay even halfway-close attention to his legislative efforts (to their benefit!) on the Stafford Loan. I’m just saying.