Barack Obama confirmed that he makes his own music playlists despite “young” folks who believe otherwise. The former president confirmed the news during an interview with comedian Hasan Minhaj that was shared on YouTube on June 21.
Minhaj asked Obama if he really chose all the books, movies and music that he lists at the end of each year as his favorites. The 61-year-old said he was happy that Minhaj asked him the question because he was eager to set the record straight.
“I do!” he said. “I am so glad that I have this opportunity. People, they believe [I watch] the books and the movies. But the playlists, they somehow think, and this is mostly coming from young people like you. Somehow, y’all think, ‘you invented rock ‘n’ roll. You invented hip-hop.’
“And so, the fact that my lists are, you know, pretty incredible, people seem to think, ‘Well, he must have had some 20-year-old intern who was figuring out, you know, this latest cut,'” he continued. “No, man. It’s on my iPad right now.”
After Minhaj challenged the former president by asking if he really had “Life Is Good” by SiR featuring Scribz Riley on his playlist, Obama replied, “Yes, I do. Come on, man. Don’t play with me,” he continued.
The author did reveal that he does take suggestions for his book, movie, and music playlists, and if he likes the suggestions, he will add them to his end-of-year lists.
“Look, here’s the bottom line of my playlist and my book list and my movie list. I am very scrupulous about making sure that this is stuff that I actually like,” he noted.
“I will confess that there are times on the playlist, on the music list, where I will get suggestions because it’s not like I got time to be listening to music all the time. So, typically, at the end of the year, what happens is folks will be like, ‘Man, you need to listen to this. This is good.’”
He claims that he doesn’t put anything on his playlist that he himself has not listened to, watched or read. “I won’t put it on there,” he added.
The comedian then asked what would happen if he didn’t put his wife’s book, “The Light We Carry” on his annual list.
“Well, that would be foolish, because we, we share a bank account,” Obama said while laughing.
A clip from his interview was shared on The Jasmine Brand’s Instagram page, where fans laughed and supported Obama’s answers.
“He said that ‘I do!’ with his whole chest.”
“Don’t play with Barack ‘Himmy’ Obama!!”
“People are ageist. That’s what it comes down to. They think he’s too old to like those kinds of songs.”
However, his remarks now contradict his previous statements, according to one fan, who said, “He’s lying. I remember a post on another page that said ‘with the help of my daughter (s)’ or with the help of Sasha. It was something like that.”
During a 2020 interview, the 44th president admitted that sometimes his daughters, Malia and Sasha, assist him by recommending songs for his curated playlist. It can be inferred that they likely gave him recommendations for his 2022 playlist last December.
“I always enjoy sharing my end of year music playlist with all of you,” he wrote on Twitter. “And this year we heard a lot of great songs. Here are some of my favorites. Are there any songs or artists I should check out?”
Obama’s 2022 end-of-year music list includes great music from iconic artists such as “The Heart Part 5” by Kendrick Lamar, “Break My Soul” by Beyoncé, “Last, Last,” by Burna Boy, “Round Midnight” by Adam Blackstone & Jazmine Sullivan, “Pull Up” by Koffee, and SZA’s track “Shirt,” just to name a few.
Being that he seemingly does so well at keeping up with the latest and newest songs, fans wonder what might be on this year’s playlist.
One said, “Man let me find out …Poundtown making the list this year !”
“Pound Town” is a new song from Louisiana rapper Sexyy Redd. The Tay Keith-produced track earned a remix featuring Nicki Minaj, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart earlier this month.
