obamarama.

This Common music video is the first place I heard of Barack Obama (you'll hear it at about 2:40.)

I used to joke that I was going to vote Obama because he liked hip hop. I thought it was really funny when my mom couldn't tell whether I was joking or not.

In all seriousness, however, I think that Obama's new term as leader of the free world will mark the beginning of an era in great hip hop.

All of my favorite hip hop albums were made around the turn of the century: Stuff like Blackstar, Common's "Like Water For Chocolate", Blackalicious's "Blazing Arrow", Mos Def's "Black on Both Sides", and definitely "Mama's Gun" by Erykah Badu.

In the midst of Hurricane Katrina, the Sean Bell scandal, and all of the turmoil that's surrounded every American citizen (War in Iraq, illegal government surveillance, etc.) a lot of the socially conscious artists that I like started to create a lot of pretty angry stuff.

Now they have something to celebrate. Can't wait to hear it...