Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
Ever since the 2000 elections, the Black community has called upon people in hip hop to get more Black youth to vote. The response was great as Diddy and Eminem were active in the 2004 election. In 2008, many youth and most of the hip hop community was inspired by Barack Obama, so Jay-Z stepped up big.
Jay-Z is a major reason Barack Obama went from being called "Senator Obama" to "President Obama." In the time since this change, Jay-Z has become quite chummy with the President of the United States. Conservative media outlets have tried to use this against the president, but it holds no traction. Jay-Z gave up the thug image a long time ago to go corporate.
With things not looking good for the Democrats, the president has called upon his old buddy for a little bit of help. Over the past few years, Jay-Z has gone from simply a rap icon into a public figure. Because of this, his appeal is simply not with the black youth. As an overall business figure, people take Jay-Z's opinion into consideration, especially in an important situation, such as voting. The nonpartisan organization, HeadCount, is behind the new string of commercials. The commercial will soon be available on Viacom-owned networks and is available on YouTube.