Obama Happy To Have Support Of Hip-Hop Community

September 30, 2008 8:44 p.m. EST

Hollywood, CA (CNS) - Senator Barack Obama is happy that the hip-hop community is supporting him and he is sending them a message to let them know.

Obama was interviewed by MTV personality, Sway, after his first presidential debate with Republican Senator John McCain and he expressed his gratitude that the hip-hop community has rallied around him.

Hip-hop seems to love Senator Obama right back with support from artists such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil' Wayne and Young Jeezy going so far to salute him in their lyrics. The senator has also inspired bootleg t-shirts, mixtapes and on-stage shout-outs from hip-hop supporters.

Back in April at a campaign stop, the presidential hopeful famously brushed the dirt off his shoulder, giving reference to one of Jay-Z's biggest hits.

Obama is a fan of hip-hop, but also busy on the campaign trail, telling MTV, "I enjoy it, but these days I don't have the time to listen to it all the time. I'm a little older than hip-hop culture. I was there at the beginning, but I was already getting older. What I've appreciated, watching this hip hip-hop generation, is to see how entrepreneurial they've been."

"In the past, musicians often times were commodities. They were just shuffled around. Obviously, they did well, but they didn't have the vision to say, 'I'm going to build a business. I'm going to build my own studio. I'm going to create my own production operations.' I think they're a lot more sophisticated than in the past, and that is a wonderful thing."

He continues saying, "What I'm starting to see is them stretching out more and thinking about social responsibility and how they can impact the culture in a positive way and I hope that continues."