NEW YORK () - Presidential hopeful Barack Obama listens to hip-hop, knows many of the genre's moguls, such as Jay-Z, Russell Simmons and rapper Ludacris, admires their concern acumen and has been endorsed by them.
That support could be a thanksgiving for the 47-year-old Democratic candidate as he appeals to young voters.
Or it could be a curse, with golf links to hip-hop's "gangsta" range and oblation ammunition for the supporters of Republican rival U.S. Sen. John McCain.
"Hip-hop's public mental image makes it a hot potato," aforesaid Bakari Kitwana, of the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. "People don't know what it is so they equalise it with hyper-sexuality, violence and drug culture."
"People on the correct can always say this doesn't lay out family values and they can make these negative associations with hip-hop that then Barack or whatsoever other prospect is set in a position to defend," aforementioned Kitwana, world Health Organization is publishing a book in September on organizing a hip-hop voting bloc.
Hip-hop music began in New York's South Bronx in 1970s and has full-grown into an industry worth billions of dollars with mass appeal beyond its black and Hispanic roots.
Activists broadly define a alleged "hip-hop generation" as Americans mostly cured 18 to 29. There is no data showing how many of the millions of those voters identify with hip-hop.
A March poll by the two-way "Rock the Vote" set up 47 pct of young voters backup Obama, with 28 percentage backing the 71-year-old McCain. The hip-hop activists believe a legal age of the "hip-hop generation" back Obama.�
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