In a powerful new video for the Obama campaign, musician and entrepreneur Jay-Z calls on the president’s supporters to exercise their “right to vote.”
In the video, Jay-Z—who with wife Beyoncé hosted an Obama fundraiser on Sept. 18 at his Manhattan 40/40 Club—praises the president for representing “hope to a nation of kids.”
“For so long, there was this voice that was silenced out there as far as exercising your right to vote,” Jay-Z says in the video released today. “I think it was a voice that was silent because people had lost hope. They didn’t believe that their voice mattered or counted. Now people are exercising their right, and you are starting to see the power of our vote. He made it mean something for the first time for a lot of people.”
The ad also features video remarks originally made by President Obama for the “Made In America” festival in Philadelphia, where Jay-Z performed on Sept. 1.
“To me, the idea of America is that no matter who you are, what you look like, or where you come from, you can make it if you try,” Obama said in the video, screened to a crowd of nearly 50,000. “Jay-Z did. He didn’t come from power or privilege. He got ahead because he worked hard, learned from his mistakes and just plain refused to quit. That’s the promise of this country and all of us have the obligation to keep that promise alive.” The new Jay-Z video directs viewers to its “gottavote” Web pages, which explain to how to vote early and register to vote, and provides state-by-state guides to what voters need to know on Election Day.
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