Obama‘s secret service name, “Renegade,” is more evidence of his connection to the scurrilous world of Hip-hop. Sure, he may say he wants brothers to pull up their pants, but is that what’s really going on? Consider the lyrics of Jay-Z and Eminem‘s 2001 hit collaboration Renegade:
By the bodega, iron under my coat, feelin braver
Doo-rag wrappin my waves up, pockets full of hope
Do not step to me – I’m awkward, I box lefty often
My pops left me an orphan, my momma wasn’t home
Consider:
Although I could never see Obama wearing a durag or carrying a gun, George Will has referred to “the tempered steel” beneath Obama’s “sleek suits.”
Obama’s pockets are “full of Hope.”
Obama is left-handed.
Obama’s dad left him, and his mother died of cancer.
I think we have a slam-dunk case. Can anyone really dispute that Biden, theoretically playing the Eminem role here, has “never been afraid to say what’s on his mind/any given time of day?”
–A. Serwer
