barack obama

Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson and James Taylor are already booked to perform at President Obama’s upcoming inauguration ceremony but because there’s likely no limit to how many diverse musical offerings Barack and Michelle blast behind closed doors, even more talent has been acquired for Inauguration Weekend 2013. According to the AP, Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Brad Paisley, Smokey Robinson and Usher have been added to the inaugural ball on Monday, January 21 as well as a children’s concert on the 19th.

Hosted by Michelle Obama and Jill Biden (there to make sure Leslie Knope doesn’t make a move on her husband) Saturday’s children’s event will take place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and will also feature performances from the likes of Far*East Movement, fun., John Legend, Marc Anthony, Mindless Behavior and members of the Glee cast. Despite the wide cross-section of musical talent, all eyes will be on Katy to see what political piece of clothing she could possibly wiggle herself into this time.

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Last night, Katy Perry joined Jennifer Hudson, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire and President Barack Obama himself at the President’s ’30 Days to Victory Concert’ fundraiser in Westwood, California. Dressed in a shimmery evening gown and with her nails done right (or Left, if we’re speaking politics) for the occasion, worked through a short set of her own hits — “Teenage Dream,” “Part Of Me” and “Firework” — before ending the evening with a dazzling cover of Al Green‘s classic “Let’s Stay Together.” It was a bold choice for Katy, given the President’s own history with the song. Read more…

Did you get this email? The November election only ever getting closer, the Obama reelection machine has been churning out the fundraising emails. Ask anyone subscribed about the campaign’s many appeals, and they’ll probably tell you that the subject lines skew intimate (“If you’re ready” or “Hey again”) and that they are often signed-off by “Barack” himself. They will also probably tell you that, with the clip they come in, they just delete most of them. The email that landed in inboxes this morning looked a little different, though, and it’s got those that didn’t get it feeling pretty left out.

“I usually don’t email you,” the message begins. Beyoncé has taken over email duty, and she has “an amazing invitation to share.” Do tell!

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Rick Ross may conflate “royalty” and “chief of state” in the God Forgives, I Don’t cut “Presidential,” but the the song’s new video shows that Rozay has got an eye for politics, too. The song itself is mostly about boss things like “Billie Jean thumping” babes and gold watches, but the video begins anyways with a sample from the speech President Obama gave at last week’s Democratic National Convention. “America, I never said this journey would be easy,” booms the President, assuring then, before “Presidential”‘s Pharrell beat kicks in, that, “Yes our path is harder, but it leads to a better place.” Obama might not have considered “weed crumbs on the cruise ship” when he imagined “a better place,” but there’s no denying that Ross believes that said ship is a marked improvement from “3rd floor projects, feel my point of view.” And so to at least on that point, big Bawse Rick Ross and big Boss Obama can see eye to eye, strictly presidential.

Ross wasn’t the only hip hop heavyweight to show love to President Obama this week. It’s only Tuesday, and already he has won the efforts and affections of some of hip hop’s biggest characters. Who else is feeling the blue this week? Let’s have a look: Read more…