Camron Gaston
English 1100-sect 062
Summary Analysis Paper
12/16/2009
Nas-Black President
With everything that was going on in the presidency race a year ago, Nas used a track
from his new CD “Untitled” to express how he felt. The song “Black President” is a track where
he expresses his feelings about if we were to have an Afro-American president and how it would
affect him as well as the U.S. In Nas’s perspective he felt the election of a black president would
change America forever. It would provide hope to black teens and eliminate excuses of why you
can’t achieve any goal or dream. Through the use of rhetorical analysis this rap song can is
broken down into a deeper meaning and understanding. Nas uses his emotion as well as
intelligence to express his feelings on this controversial topic Nas is a northern rapper known to
speak his mind and rap with meaning by talking about world issues, controversial issues, and
rapping with an educated tone. Followers of Nas know that he is well educated and reads a lot of
books through his music that he is not just rapping about violence as every other rapper seem to
do. Nas wrote the track, Black President to open the mind of listeners by discussing past
incidents in history with black leaders and questioning whether Obama really is a good candidate
for presidency.
To provide a more serious tone, Nas starts the song with a clip taken from President
Obama victory speech in Iowa. The statement that was taken from the speech was very
encouraging and meaningful and also helped set the more serious tone. As the song goes on you
can hear a quote from an old Tupac song saying “Although it seems heaven sent, we ain’t ready
to have a black president.” As the first verse starts, he seems to digress and talk about his
neighborhood and his culture. He starts it off like this to capture the listener’s attention. Most of
Camron Gaston
English 1100-sect 062
Summary Analysis Paper
12/16/2009
Nas’s listeners are black urban teens and adults and to catch their attention and keep them
listening you must relate to them. Even though he starts the verse off subject he, ends it by
talking about how the black culture tends to envy people of their own race succeeding. He also
says, “America, surprise us, and let a black man guide us.” He is saying that America should try
a change and let an Afro-American be president which has never happened before.
The second verse begins with Nas stating, “What’s the black pres’ thinking on election
night? Is it how can I protect my life? Protect my wife? Protect my rights?” This statement
should open the mind of listeners, how is Obama feeling? With all the publicity and severity of
the presidency race, many people didn’t stop and think how he was feeling about everything that
was going on. With everything that has happened in history, Senator Obama could only by
nervous on election night, thinking about more than just winning the election and being the first
Afro-American president, he had to be worried about how to keep he and his family from harm’s
way. He goes on to say, “but on the positive side, I think Obama provides hope and challenges
mind of all races and colors to erase the hate and try to love one another.” He is expressing
positive qualities about Obama other than the fact that he is Afro-American. Even though it is
his opinion he uses it to open the mind of the listeners and to not look at Obama for just his race,
which it seem like society was doing. Nas also had a counterstatement for what he just said so
he wouldn’t come across as being bias and show he isn’t necessarily leaning toward one side.
“So many political snakes, we in need of a break, I’m thinking I can trust this brother, but will he
keep it real? If he wins will he really care still? I feel…” He touching both sides and showing
the big picture that although he is a black man running for president, it doesn’t necessarily mean
Camron Gaston
English 1100-sect 062
Summary Analysis Paper
12/16/2009
he will be a good candidate. He has you think “outside the box” when he says “when he wins
will he really care still”. Obama could be feeding the U.S. lies only to deceive us when he wins
like other presidents have done before. By touching both sides, Nas shows he is not being bias,
he is simply trying to have his listeners think in depth about the election and don’t vote for
Obama just because of his race.
In the third verse he compares President Obama to the prestigious John F. Kennedy
calling him the “new and improved JFK, on the way.” Just as Kennedy was trying to make a
change before his assassination, Obama is trying to do the same. He also said, “We ain’t falling
for the same traps, standing on the balconies, where they shot the King at. McCain got
apologies, ain’t nobody hearing that, people need honesty.” Nas is merely trying to say that
America shouldn’t let history repeat itself. We shouldn’t let another black leader get
assassinated because of the color of his skin. He is also stating that McCain is telling lies and
that is not what the U.S. needs. He said the people need honesty which is true, with all that has
occurred these past few years the U.S. needs a president that is going to be a leader and be honest
with us.
Throughout the song Nas uses the rhetorical strategies: pathos, ethos, and logos. When
he compared President Obama to the legendary John F. Kennedy saying he is the “new and
improved” he is using logos to appeal to the listener. He uses logos to appeal to the reader also
when he said, “Every other president was nothing less but white, except Thomas Jefferson mixed
with Indian blood and Calvin Coolidge…” he’s telling history that there has been nothing but
white presidents in office which puts Obama at a disadvantage. He appeals to the reader’s
Camron Gaston
English 1100-sect 062
Summary Analysis Paper
12/16/2009
emotions by using pathos in the chorus of the song when it is repeated “Yes we can, change the
world”. The repetition of this powerful Obama slogan provides a serious and encouraging tone
to the song. He provides ethos by when using his intelligence and knowledge to the song. As I
talked about earlier, many rappers talk about violence and drugs but for Nas to talk about the
presidential election, it shows that he is politically conscious. Throughout the song he does use
some derogatory words and curses which does not establish a good ethos however when he says
statements like “I think Obama provides hope and challenges minds…erase the hate and try to
love one another” shows he has character and an intellectual side which provides to the ethos of
the song. The overall tone of the song provided evidence of ethos. The feeling he has for the
topic and the confidence in the way he wrote the song shows ethos. Ethos is also the overall
structure and material expressed in the song which is distinctive due to Nas’s character.
The song Black President was produced by Nas, a rap artist, where he expresses his
feelings about the 2008 presidential election and through rhetorical strategies he showed the song
had meaning. He used this track to broaden the minds of his listeners so they can see Obama for
more than his race. He wanted his listeners to look past Obama’s ethnic background and really
analyze if he is a good candidate for presidency. Using rhetorical analysis broke down the song
and brought out an understanding of what Nas was trying to express to his audience, which was
open your mind and don’t vote for Obama just because of the color of his skin.