Team Obama can breathe a sigh of relief, they officially got the Russell Simmons endorsement. From a letter sent out this weekend, Simmons declared:
Today I am announcing my personal endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States. During the last nine months, I have closely observed the presidential campaigns, analyzed the issues and platforms of the major candidates, and have had substantive discussions with Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. From the sidelines of the primaries and debates, I have been particularly inspired by the fact that Senator Obama has built an unprecedented, national movement comprised of people from all ethnic, racial, political, social and economic backgrounds.
Last April, in light of the Imus incident, Simmons tried to clean up rap lyrics; around the same time Obama spoke out saying that often rap lyrics are similar to the derogatory language used by Don Imus. Yet Simmons called Obama "a mouse" for this in a NY Times interview, which confused many. At the time, Simmons also referred to Obama as "a rock star," and seemed unclear on what issues were important to him -- saying he preferred Edwards and Kucinich.
So what about Senator Clinton? He says he has respect for his hometown girl Hillary -- who he has worked personally with "on issues concerning education, prison reform and poverty," but in the end Obama has and will continue to "transcend race in America." Hillary has some hip-hop moguls on her side, too, both Darryl McDaniels (DMC of Run DMC) and Timbaland support her. Another New York music mogul, Jay-Z, is endorsing Obama as well; after all, the candidate did play "I Got 99 Problems (But a Bitch Ain't One)" at a victory event earlier this year (seriously).
