Nation Divided Over Barack Obama’s Controversial Rap Single

America is left wondering whether it was a good idea for Barack Obama to release a fairly inflammatory rap song and video just days before the hotly contested midterm elections.

Okay, actually it’s a parody of Atlanta rapper Waka Flocka*‘s song Hard in the Paint. Now titled Head of the State, the video features an Obama lookalike doing some pretty hardcore, NSFW rapping by Baracka Flacka Flames.

The question that has been burning up the internet is whether or not this is going too far. Waka Flocka** has spoken out, saying it’s disrespectful to the president. Of course it’s the rare rapper who has a sense of humor about his own work. Other people feel that the whole thing is disrespectful to the race in general, and that it borders on - if not outright steps into - racism and cooning.

Personally? I think it’s pretty well done and funny, and it feels to me like it’s parodying the very imagery that artists like Waka Flocka use in their own music. You decide.

* are you putting me on?

** he sounds like a character on that cartoon Laffalympics.