By now, just about everyone has seen the Obama/Waka Flocka Flame parody video, "Head of State," which popped up on the Internet last Thursday (October 21) and spread quickly! It's garnered millions of views on Youtube and several other video sites since then, and while many think its funny, others think it's goes a little overboard.
It's safe to say, it's received it's fair share of criticism, some deeming it "disrespectful" to our country's president.
Comedian James Davis, who plays Baracka Flacka Flame in the clip, landed on "Inside Edition" to discuss the spoof video and it's popularity. But once there, he was about whether the video was disrespectful to the president, and whether it would be disruptive to the midterm elections.
Even rapper Waka Flocka Flame wasn't thrilled after seeing it. At least that's what he told the New York Times. When asked about it by the paper, he called it "a form of disrespect."
"That they used it to be so sarcastic, it was almost a form of disrespect," Waka explained. But, why did he share it with his 214,000 Twitter followers if he didn't like it? He told the paper he tweeted it only to "let other people see how ignorant other people can be."
His manager/mother, Debra Antney, shared Waka's feelings about it as well. Apparently, she told the Times that she phoned WorldstarHipHop.com to have the clip removed.
"That's not a positive image for us, period, as African-Americans, where we came from, where we're going today," she said.
"Head of State" is a spoof of the Waka Flocka's street hit, "Hard in Da Paint," which features Davis as a version of President Obama. In it, Baracka Flacka Flame rides to the hood in a caravan of black vehicles, before stopping in front of a house, hopping out, and rapping from its porch, all while surrounded by some "hood ass n****s", as he puts it in the video.
Davis' Obama raps are complete with explicit lyrical content, in which he raps about having the C.I.A. on the payroll as muscle and even threatening to use the military if "you want that beef." He even smokes marijuana, dances with a bottle of alcohol, pets a pit bull, and daps up several of the neighborhood gangsters, among others things. In one line, he brags about having two women.
"Got a main bitch, got a mistress / a couple daughters, I'm so hood rich," Davis spits. Later, he raps: "In the trap with some killas and some hood n****s / where you at? Where's your trap? You ain't hood n****."
There's even actresses who play the first lady and Oprah Winfrey, both of which happily join in the party.
)Despite some of the backlash Davis has gotten, he feels President Obama wouldn't be offended by his portrayal, if he's seen it. After all, he and director Martin Usher created "Head of State" in the spirit of the musical sketches on "Saturday Night Live."
"I don't know what it takes to get to Obama," Davis told the Times. "If the White House is like other businesses, other offices, he probably knows about it. Maybe it's on his to-do list: fix the economy, health care, watch this link."
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