Kanye West's 'Cruel Summer' Pokes Fun At Romney

In case you’d forgotten, rap was once about social and political issues. Here to remind us of the genre’s advocacy roots are Kanye West and Nicki Minaj, who have been infusing their rants with shout-outs to popular politicians and potshots at the not-so-popular ones. G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer album, which launched today, featured Kanye spitting the following: “I be all up in Goldman Sachs like these n—as try’na hold me back, these n—as try’na hold me back/ I’m just trying to protect my stacks/ Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax, Mitt Romney don’t pay no tax,” repeated twice, in the event you missed it the first time. Kanye’s inspired rhyme alludes to Mitt Romney‘s refusal to disclose two years of his tax returns, despite requesting to see at least ten years’ worth of Paul Ryan‘s.

But Kanye is not the first to speak against Romney, although he was certainly more direct than Nicki Minaj, who delivered a tongue-in-cheek stab at the politician in Lil Wayne‘s freestyle “Mercy”: “I’m a Republican voting for Mitt Romney/ You lazy bitches is f—ing up the economy.” The sarcastic remark was, however, initially taken literally by some, who were outraged at Minaj’s apparent support of Romney. Luckily, the President (!) stepped in to shed some light. When asked if he’d heard of the song, Barack Obama suggested that Minaj might be doing what she is most well known for. “I’m not sure that’s actually what happened. I think she had a song on there, a little rap that said that, but she likes to play different characters. So I don’t know what’s going on there,” Obama said. An appreciative Minaj broke her silence to confirm the President’s statement. “Ha! Thank you for understanding my creative humor & sarcasm Mr. President, the smart ones always do… *sends love & support*” Minaj wrote.