Barack Obama to guest on hip-hop album

Barack Obama steps up to the mic.
Barack Obama steps up to the mic.

Musicians who dabble in politics can quickly become extremely tiresome - yes, we´re taking about you Bono - but what happens when a politician turns his hand to music? We´ll find out pretty soon, for it´s emerged that US presidential hopeful Barack Obama will make a guest appearance on Q-Tip´s new album.

Apparently, Obama will speak throughout one of the songs, though what he´ll actually be saying is unclear. Q-Tip has confirmed the cameo, but other details are in short supply.

The album, called The Renaissance, will be released in July. In the meantime, you can satisfy your politics/music crossover cravings by checking out former London Mayor Ken Livingstone guesting on Blur´s Ernold Same or Bill Clinton taking a sax solo at the Newport Jazz Festival. If you can bear to watch, there´s also George Bush throwing some shapes and attempting to play a drum.

Sadly, we couldn´t find any footage of Tony Blair playing the guitar, but that´s probably for the best.

Are there any other musically-inclined politicians? Let us know…

By Ben Rogerson

The MusicRadar team

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