Obama Reflects On The Music That Shaped America In A Rolling Stone Essay
Former President Barack Obama is reflecting on the music that shaped both his presidency and the country itself in a sweeping new essay for Rolling Stone.
In the piece, published Tuesday, Obama describes music as one of America’s greatest storytelling tools, tracing the nation’s history through spirituals, gospel, protest songs, jazz and hip-hop while arguing that music has often pushed the country forward long before politics caught up.
“Again and again, music showed us the way,” Obama wrote. “And eventually, America followed.”
Hip-Hop Became Part Of Obama’s Campaign Ritual
Obama also revealed that rap music became part of his personal ritual before debates during his first presidential campaign. While he initially listened to jazz standards like Miles Davis’ “Freddie Freeloader” and John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things,” Obama said hip-hop ultimately helped him lock in mentally before stepping onstage.
“A couple of songs about defying the odds and putting it all on the line — Jay-Z’s ‘My 1st Song’ and Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ — were always in rotation,” Obama wrote.
According to Obama, those moments alone in the back of a Secret Service SUV helped strip away the “pomp and circumstance” surrounding the campaign and connect him to the people he hoped to represent.
Obama Connects Black Music To America’s Political Movements
Throughout the piece, Obama makes the case that Black music has long functioned as the country’s emotional conscience, documenting America’s contradictions in real time while pushing the culture forward. He references enslaved Africans using spirituals to preserve humanity in the face of brutality, gospel songs fueling the Civil Rights Movement and hip-hop emerging from the Bronx as “journalism set to a beat.”
“Like all of the best music, hip-hop wasn’t just a diversion,” Obama wrote. “It was journalism set to a beat, with songs like ‘The Message,’ by Grandmaster Flash, describing a reality most of the country had never had to confront.”
Obama also reflected on music’s role in movements ranging from women’s suffrage to anti-war protests during the Vietnam era, citing songs like “We Shall Overcome,” “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “What’s Going On” as examples of artists helping Americans process social change in real time.
Obama Presidential Center Will Include Space For Artists
The essay arrives ahead of the June opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which Obama noted will include a recording studio and performance space designed to support future generations of artists and storytellers.
“America has always been worth singing about,” Obama wrote. “And those songs are a form of faith.”
The full essay, “Honoring the Music That Made Us,” appears in Rolling Stone.
