President Obama met with a group of hip hop artists to discuss the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative, a community outreach effort designed to help young, at-risk men find good role models who help them make good choice. It’s an initiative Obama will continue to pursue after he leaves the White House.
The gathering featured a few “role models,” however, who might not have made the best choices themselves. Among the “advisers” were rappers Nicki Minaj, Pusha T, DJ Khaled, Busta Rhymes, A$AP Rocky, Ludacris and J. Cole. They were all invited by the White House, according to a spokesman, because they had “found ways to engage on the issues of criminal justice reform and empower[ed] disadvantaged young people across the country.”
While its true that these artists might get the White House’s message out to the right people, the compendium of their work includes plenty of pro-drug messages.
Nicki Minaj, for example, had her “cold heart” melted by Obama’s solidarity with prisoners doing time for drug crimes. But “criminal justice advocate” Minaj has also promoted drug consumption through her work (though, occasionally, in the guise of international relations). Pusha T is a talented rap lyricist, but while My Brother’s Keeper is focused on keeping kids out of the drug trade, Pusha T has spent a great deal of time rapping about running it, literally referring to himself, in his song “M.F.R.T.” as the “Kim Jong of the crack song.” That’s not quite the entry-level job market the Obama Administration is likely looking to promote.
Besides, do young male role models always have to be entertainers? Couldn’t the President get down with scientists, teachers, entrepreneurs or doctors?
Common, also invited, is a community activist who has supported educational initiatives, and Alicia Keys works on voter registration, so at least there was some merit to the group. And to be fair to President Obama, this is just the latest in a series of promotional efforts for his “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative. If the summit works as it’s intended, it could be more productive than his last MBK project, a game of Connect Four with Steph Curry.
MBK, as valuable as it is, should be a low-level priority for the White House, particularly given that there are plenty of high-level priorities demanding the President’s time. But as the President transitions into retirement, it’s MBK that will dominate his schedule. It is, reportedly, Obama’s “transitional project” bridging the gap between his time in the Oval Office and his future in the real world; Obama wants to use the celebrity relationships he’s formed in his years as President to keep himself relevant in the near future. Foundations and organizations have already committed more than $500 million to the project and a billion more in grants are on the way.
President Obama seems to be getting a head start on his post-Presidency.
