A Brief History of Hillary and Trump in Rap Music

Tara Jacoby
                     

Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, look back on 25 years of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton references in rap music. 

1991, The Coup

“The Coup” (The Coup EP, Polemic)

“We gives a f— if you’ve got money and the millions / Cause motherf—er we’ve got a posse in the billions / Break yourself Trump, it’s collection day.../You stole the shit from my great granddaddy anyway”

The political hip-hop group was an outlier when it came to knocking The Donald: In the ’90s, everyone from UGK to Raekwon used “Black Trump” as a compliment.

VOTE FOR: CLINTON

 

1993, YO YO

“Girl’s Got a Gun” (You Better Ask Somebody, East West/Atlantic)

“The devil don’t know who the man be / Come and check it out, I got the fat artillery / Harriet Tubman’s spirit instilled in me / F— Bill Clinton and Hillary”

Five months into Bill Clinton’s presidency, why was Yo Yo so mad? It might have been the first couple’s attack on Sister Souljah and gangsta rap in the wake of the Los Angeles riots — or maybe she just hates the saxophone.

VOTE FOR: TRUMP

 

1998, Method Man 

“Cradle Rock” featuring Booster and Left Eye (Tical 2000, Def Jam)

“Bad vibes filling me with thoughts of conspiracy / Whitewater scandals with Bill Clinton, Hillary / Too hot to handle, too well put together to dismantle / F—er, you heard me”

Also on Tical 2000: A voicemail from Trump, who says, “Hey, Method Man. This is Donald Trump, I’m in Palm Beach and we’re all waiting for your album. Let’s get going, man. Everybody’s waiting for this album.”

VOTE FOR: TRUMP 

 

 

2005, Nelly

“Grillz” featuring Paul Wall, Ali, Gipp, Brandi and Jermaine Dupri” (Sweatsuit, Universal)

“Where I got ’em you can spot ’em, on the top, on the bottom / Got a bill in my mouth like I’m Hillary Rodham”

Assuming this is a reference to the presidential package, wasn’t it a dated reference even 11 years ago, when Ali of St. Lunatics dropped this rhyme? Listeners were apparently unfazed: The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006.

VOTE FOR: ABSTAINS

2007, Trina

“Single Again” (Still Da Baddest, Slip-N-Slide)

“Like Hillary Clinton, / I’m the boss / Dude came back ’cause / He know where it’s at”

In 2007 Hillary was riding high, fresh off her first term as senator and gearing up for a White House run. With Trina’s name-drop, Clinton received her first truly positive reference in song — the same year Gorilla Zoe compared her to cocaine (and meant it as a compliment).

VOTE FOR: CLINTON

 

2010, Lil B

“Bitch I’m Bill Clinton” (Red Flame, BasedWorld)

“I need Bill Clinton to light up the weed / Shout-outs to Hillary Clinton / You ’bout to win that president shit / For me you going to be president soon, baby”

Barack Obama was still in his first term when the Bay Area icon offered this endorsement of then-Secretary of State Clinton. No wonder, then, that when Lil B switched his support to Bernie Sanders in 2015, CNN saw fit to report the news.

VOTE FOR: CLINTON

 

 

2011, Mac Miller 

“Donald Trump” (Best Day Ever, Rostrum)

“Take over the world when I’m on my Donald Trump shit / Look at all this money, ain’t that some shit”

When this dropped, Trump was flattered, calling Miller “the next Eminem.” But just two years later, he tweeted (among many other things): “Little @macmiller, I’m now going to teach you a big boy lesson about lawsuits and finance. You ungrateful dog!” In 2016, Miller responded on The Nightly Show, calling him “a racist f—wad of a human.”

VOTE FOR: CLINTON

 

2016, Rich Da Kid

“Rich the GOAT” (I’m the GOAT, Rich Forever Music)

“Hillary hit the dab, I’ma vote (Hillary!)”

Clinton made headlines when she learned to Whip and Nae Nae on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in September 2015. But it took her dabbing on the same show to win the coveted Rich Da Kid endorsement. Though it may not be a great reason to vote, there’s plenty worse — deporting millions to Mexico, for instance.

VOTE FOR: CLINTON

 

2016, YG

“FDT” featuring Nipsey Hussle (Still Brazy, Def Jam)

"F— Donald Trump / F— Donald Trump / Yeah, n—a, f— Donald Trump / I don’t like your ass, n—a / Yeah, yeah, f— Donald Trump / Yeah, f— Donald Trump / This for my grandma! / Yeah, yeah, f— Donald Trump, yeah"

Breaking: YG and Hussle (and G-Eazy and Macklemore on the remix) don’t like Donald Trump.

VOTE FOR: CLINTON

 

 

This article originally appeared in the Sept. 24 issue of Billboard.