--- title: Barack Obama Rap: His Top Five Hip Hop Moments description: Watch some of the top five moments involving hip hop from Barack Obama's presidency. canonical: https://time.com/4544958/barack-obamas-rap-moments/ author: Kenneth Bachor article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-26T11:00:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:59.846Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch President Obama's Top 5 Rap Moments og:description: From feuding with Kanye to a mic drop. og:url: https://time.com/4544958/barack-obamas-rap-moments/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ef28319d37f4a89/6988ab8ee20a8733d3a92f50/obama-jay-z-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2644 og:image:height: 1487 og:image:alt: U.S. President Barack Obama is greeted on stage by rapper Jay-Z at an election campaign rally in Columbus og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch President Obama's Top 5 Rap Moments twitter:description: From feuding with Kanye to a mic drop. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ef28319d37f4a89/6988ab8ee20a8733d3a92f50/obama-jay-z-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch President Obama's Top 5 Rap Moments > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Kenneth Bachor](https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/) ## Kenneth Bachor Oct 26, 2016 11:00 AM UTC  President Barack Obama meets with hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar, during an Oval Office drop by, Oct. 19, 2015. President Barack Obama meets with hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar, during an Oval Office drop by, Oct. 19, 2015. Pete Souza—The White House by [Kenneth Bachor](https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/) ## Kenneth Bachor Oct 26, 2016 11:00 AM UTC If there’s one thing that President Obama loves, [aside from broccoli](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/10170504/Barack-Obama-declares-broccoli-is-his-favourite-food.html), it’s rap music. Obama has gone [on record to _Rolling Stone_](http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/obama-in-command-br-the-rolling-stone-interview-20100928), saying that his playlist includes hip-hop artists, such as Jay Z, Nas and Lil Wayne. Since Jay Z first campaigned for Obama in 2008, their “bromance” has been [well documented](http://www.mtv.com/news/1694108/jay-z-obama-bromance/). The popular rapper and business mogul has not only [been a guest at the White House](http://time.com/4274082/beyonce-jay-z-blue-ivy-white-house-easter/), as well as a guest at [the President’s second inauguration](http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/presidential-inauguration-2013-all-the-stars-and-celebrations-2013211/27691) in 2013, where Beyoncé was invited to perform “The Star-Spangled Banner_._” In 2015, [“due to popular request,”](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/barack-obama-spotify-playlist/) Obama teamed up with Spotify to release his summer playlist, which included songs by Mos Def and Erykah Badu. Earlier this year, the President [invited rapper Kendrick Lamar](http://www.newsweek.com/when-kendrick-lamar-talked-mentoring-barack-obama-414421) to the White House to support his My Brother’s Keeper initiative, in order to raise awareness about the importance of mentoring for a PSA. It’s no coincidence that Lamar was Obama’s choice, the President has stated that [his favorite song of 2015](http://pitchfork.com/news/62469-president-obama-says-kendrick-lamars-how-much-a-dollar-cost-was-his-favorite-song-of-2015/) was Lamar’s _To Pimp A Butterfly_ track “How Much A Dollar Cost.” From referencing Jay Z’s lyrics to dropping the mic at his final White House Correspondents’ Dinner, TIME looks back at President Obama’s best rap moments. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4544958/barack-obamas-rap-moments/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4544958/barack-obamas-rap-moments/"},"headline":"Watch President Obama's Top 5 Rap Moments","datePublished":"2016-10-26T11:00:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:59.846Z","description":"Watch some of the top five moments involving hip hop from Barack Obama's presidency.","url":"https://time.com/4544958/barack-obamas-rap-moments/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Barack Obama","Music","rap","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ef28319d37f4a89/6988ab8ee20a8733d3a92f50/obama-jay-z-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kenneth Bachor","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ef28319d37f4a89/6988ab8ee20a8733d3a92f50/obama-jay-z-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Barack Obama is greeted on stage by rapper Jay-Z at an election campaign rally in Columbus","caption":"President Barack Obama is greeted onstage by rapper Jay-Z at an election campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 5, 2012.","creditText":"Pete Souza—The White House","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4544958/barack-obamas-rap-moments/","name":"Watch President Obama's Top 5 Rap Moments"}}]}] ```