President Obama A Terrorist?

The last time we met for class, we had a very interesting discussion words and how they can have double meaning depending on the context in which they are used. At this time I cannot recall our original discussion on this sort of double meaning behind lyrics or words. However, I do remember us bringing up popular songs and artists who have worked to not be “typical” in their music. We specifically spoke about an artist who made a song that was mocking the typical kind of song that was popular at the time. At first listen the one might assume that the song was a typical pop song, but when you listened closer the artists lyrics describe how they were not going to be the typical artist by “selling out.” Someone in class then brought up an artist by the named Lupe Fiasco, and mentioned how he has alot of music with very political and underlying meaning that only one who is attentive would pick up on. It reminded me of a youtube clip that I saw with Lupe and Bill O’Reilly having a heated discussion about lyrics that he had included in one of his songs “Words I Never Said” in which he writes about terrorism. In the song, O’Reilly charges Lupe after hearing this lyric, “I believe that the biggest terrorist, Obama and the Unites States of America and its foreign policy.” In the clip you will see O’Reilly disturbed as he usually is by rappers as he tries to find out why Lupe would have made such a lofty statement about the President of the Unites States. You will see Lupe respond by saying he is against the war and did not mean anything personally when he made his statement, instead it was just an effort to express his political views through his art. The two go back and forth throughout the clip, and while I do not usually agree with O’Reillys stance on political issues, I too feel that it was problematic for Lupe to say something so disrespectful about our President. However, I too think that he didnt mean it in a literal sense, instead he probably wanted to alert his audience to pay closer attention to politics, it was still done in a tacky way. Take a look at the clip and decide for yourself…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYJ20INbM7Q