President Barack Obama is no stranger to freedom of speech, as he has once again been quoted referring to Grammy-award winning rapper, Kanye West, as a “Jack*ss.”
Although from Chicago, when asked recently which artist he prefers between the two- Hov or Kanye West- President Obama had no hesitation choosing Brooklyn rap veteran, Jay-Z.
“The commander-in-chief spoke out about his rap star preferences in a brief interview with The Atlantic, telling the magazine he prefers Jay-Z to the hot-headed hip-hopper. But Obama was quick to give a nod to West, whom he insulted after the singer ruined Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech by jumping on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009.'[Kanye’s] a Chicago guy,’ Obama told the magazine, which published the interview on Thursday. ‘Smart. He’s very talented.'” (NY Daily News)
When reminded of once publicly referring to West as a “jack*ss”, President Obama, who is no stranger to honesty, stood firm in saying that he still considers ‘Ye to be just that.
“He is a jackass,” Obama says, in his likable and perfectly balanced modern-professorial voice. “But he’s talented.” The president gives a wink, poses for a few more pictures, and then glides away to meet with the rich Manhattan lawyers in the other room, leaving behind a verdict that he intended to be funny, and also entirely deliberate: even before an audience of one, the leader of the free world is still not letting Kanye West off the hook. (The Atlantic)
Back in 2010, ‘Ye spoke to XXL about the President’s remark, claiming that he took the comment to be that of just a joke.
“When Obama called me ‘jack*ss,’ after the Taylor [Swift] incident, I thought that the person to be speaking off the record. Obama has way more important stuff to worry about than my public perception. He was trying to pass the healthcare bill. And if he said that to relate to the room or lighten the room up and the whole mood, then I’d be more than happy to be the butt of all of his jokes if it in the some way helps his overall mission. I’m a soldier of culture. I’m resilient. I’m sure I’ll still beat him in basketball.” (XXL Magazine)
Just short of a week ago, Kanye released some new music for the G.O.O.D music compilation album, in which rapper 2 Chainz commented on working with the Chi-town rapper.
“I felt like it was mixtape had songs that were album material. “Riot” always had a feeling to me, it always had a feeling to me. It was one of the records I enjoyed performing, but Riot definitely did more than I could ever anticipate. Tomorrow is Good Friday and me and the crew gonna be dropping the first single off that compilation. It’s called mercy featuring Big Sean, Pusha T, myself and of course Kanye. I’m excited about it. It’s a good thing its jamming and it should drive the internet crazy tomorrow. That’s a good thing to add to the resume, definitely” (SOHH)
Check out past footage of President Obama speaking on Kanye West:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=078BGtKNL1o]
