If Bernie Sanders Really Wanted To Be President, He’d Reunite OutKast
Or get Frank Ocean to release an album. His choice.
As the 2016 Presidential election primaries reach South Carolina, the push for Democratic nominees Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to engage with African-American voters has reached a fever pitch. Bernie’s met with Al Sharpton and gained TaNehisi Coates’ support, while the Clinton campaign likely believes that they already have a staunch block of African-American supporters. However, there’s someone and something out there that could swing black voters — especially the key young black voting demographic — towards Bernie in such a way that Hillary would have to pack up shop immediately and consider the election a wrap. Bernie Sanders is already co-signed by Killer Mike and Big Boi. If Sanders could gain the support of Andre “3000” Benjamin and landed a single from a reunited OutKast, even bloviating and black-beloved Republican Donald Trump likely couldn’t top that. Bottom line, if America’s favorite socialist-leaning Democrat gets a “Sorry Ms. Clinton” song out of Daddy Fat Stacks and Seven’s daddy, he’ll absolutely be taking the Oath of Office in January 2017.
Strongly identifying with black music won Bill Clinton over with African-American voters in 1992. A quarter-century later, if you replaced Arsenio Hall with Jimmy Fallon, The “Dog Pound” with “The Roots,” and Bill with a sax with Bernie dapping up Andre 3000, Big Boi, Killer Mike, Cee Lo Green, Sleepy Brown and the entire Dungeon Family on the Tonight Show stage, it’s game over for Bill’s wife in 2016.
Hillary can do many things to engage voters, but engaging young black voters in a way that young black voters may need to be engaged is going to be tough for her. I can’t see Nicki Minaj, Beyonce or Kanye West being down with Hillary’s campaign. Nicki jokingly supported Mitt Romney in 2012. As well, if Twitter existed in 1995, Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton would’ve had their tryst “go down in the DM,” and Hillary probably would’ve had no idea. If Hilary’s looking for Beyonce, she’s wearing bandoliers at the Super Bowl, partying with underground pop star drag queens, supporting Black Power and eating Red Lobster’s Cheddar Bay biscuits with Jay Z. Also, as far as Kim Kardashian’s husband Mr. West, he can’t be texted or asked for anything until Monday, and even then, he’s got some PR issues that are still quite concerning.
I mean, Bernie’s doing a great job of reaching out to young black folks already. He was “shooting in the gym” in New Hampshire, has probably eaten chicken and waffles with the aforementioned Killer Mike, has civil rights protest arrests on his criminal record, and already sat down on camera with Comedy Central’s Larry Wilmore. However, for 2016’s young black population, getting Big Boi and Andre 3000 into the recording booth might be as significant a Presidential act as Jimmy Carter getting Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to sign the Camp David Accords in 1978.
Blavity.com says that “Black youth believe that the largest amount of political change comes from the actions of ordinary people and community organizations as opposed to the nation’s institutions and political elites.” As well, the same article entitled Why the Black Millennial Vote Is Not Guaranteed? says that “Black youth are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the political system.”
One thing that we all can likely agree on is that Black youth (and all youth…and all people for that matter) love rap music. Killer Mike’s stumping for Bernie Sanders, and his support for the Sanders campaign insofar as engaging the young black vote is actually quite important. Therefore, for as much as a Killer Mike and El-P Run The Jewels single supporting Sanders is likely, Sanders’ aides doing their rap research should realize that Mike brokering a Sanders co-signed OutKast single would actually be far more impacting.
If black youth are disillusioned with politics, then it’s high time that someone communicate with black youth in an area where they’re engaged. OutKast played a successful run of 40 festivals in 2014. However, Andre 3000 said that the series of shows made him “feel like a sellout.” In Andre saying this, the idea of OutKast supporting Sanders seems unlikely. However, if OutKast’s Dungeon Family collective associate Killer Mike could get them to say, release a single where the proceeds went to supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement, that could change. Toss in an additional caveat that the duo wouldn’t have to necessarily appear at any Sanders events, maybe the “sell-out” feeling regarding this potential track would dissipate.
But, yeah. The secret necessity to Bernie Sanders winning the Presidential election in 2016 is an OutKast reunion. Or is it getting Frank Ocean to release his album…
November’s only nine months away…that’s more than enough time, and anything is possible. For Bernie’s sake, I hope he delivers on an OutKast reunion instead of thinking that this is the solution to his black millennial issues:
