Daddy Yankee Endorses John McCain
When you think of hip-hop endorsements in the 2008 presidential cycle, McCain hardly comes to mind. But all that changed this morning when latin-hip-hop artist Daddy Yankee threw his weight behind the Republican nominee. Daddy Yankee, famous for reggaeton hits like "Gasolina" and "Who's Your Daddy," referred to McCain as "a fighter for the Hispanic community."
Daddy Yankee is an accomplished artist, whose fusion of hip-hop and reggaeton has earned him accolades at the Latin-Grammys. His latest CD, Talento de Barrio: El Soundtrack, arrived two weeks ago. It debuted at No.13 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Barack Obama, McCain's major opponent, is not without a few hip-hop endorsments of his own. As you can see from these 10 rap songs about Obama, many rappers are outspokenly excited about his candidacy. Wyclef Jean, N.E.R.D., and Kanye West are among the scheduled performers at the Democratic convention, which kicks off today.
Photo by Laura Segall/Getty Images
Comments
“Hip Hop Star Daddy Yankee”? Henry, You Trippin….
@Sleepy Wonder
Where did you read Hip-Hop Star?
Daddy Yankee must be gettin something from that…
I hope McCain’s evangelical faithful and values voters are not kept in the dark about McCain’s strange embrace of Pimp Daddy Yankee. Perhaps McCain was confused by the Yankee reference. He obviously has no staff or handlers who bothered to translate the lyrics of “gasolina” to him. Nor has he watched the video, since it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure them out since the sexual references are quite clear. I teach women’s studies. This is one of the music videos selected by my Latina students to go to the top of their most offensive, misogynist list.
Let me be a bit more specific. Gasoline, as referenced in this reggaeton tune, has nothing to do with gas prices. Lot’s more to do with what those who take Viagra might want to “pump” out.
The words chanted in the song, “duro, duro” (hard, hard) are not about hard times in the economy, and the references to “gatas” (cats) is another term for women which refers to a part of the female anatomy often referenced as a kitten – but starting with the letter “p” and ending in “y”. I leave it to you to fill in the blanks. The exhortations in the song to overthrow America, which also escaped McCain’s uniformed pander radar, are of interest as well, since I thought McCain had made “patriotism” his main theme.
That this endorsement event took place at a High School, where young Latinas, who are at high risk for STD’s , teen pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS, were the attendees, it speaks poorly to what values McCain stands for, for our youth. But it certainly shows McCain’s consistency, since he was also willing to enter his wife into the Miss Buffalo Chip topless pageant in Sturgis. Pimping, prostitution, sexual exploitation and tourism are major international issues. Perhaps this demonstrates McCain’s expertise on “foreign affairs”.