Is it safe to say that I’m no longer a daydream believer, but just a plain ol’ believer, in the man of the hour: Barack Obama? It’s a beautiful thing you see, a man of colour coming this close to the brass ring; and during my lifetime no less (never thought I’d see it happen… pessimism is a terrible beast, innit?). I’ve been trolling the web and all the usual publications for my insights and such (just read an interesting piece on Salon.com about Michelle Obama’s "image problem"… will the angry black girl stereotype ever die? WILL IT? WE’RE NOT ALL ANGRY GODDAMIT! WE'RE NOT ALL SCARY! WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS HATING ON A SISTAH?!). Ahem… Anywho, it was during my cyber-searching that I came across this little nugget of hilarity. A snippet of an interview with rapper DMX. Ladies and gents, black folks and white folks, I give you someone who has clearly lost his mind “up in here, up in here.” The date: March 14, 2008. The publication: XXL.

XXL: Are you following the presidential race?
DMX: Not at all.

XXL: You're not? You know there's a Black guy running, Barack Obama and then there's Hillary Clinton.
DMX: His name is Barack?!

XXL: Barack Obama, yeah.
DMX: Barack?!

XXL: Barack.
DMX: What the fuck is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where he from, Africa?

XXL: Yeah, his dad is from Kenya.
DMX: Barack Obama?

XXL: Yeah.
DMX: What the fuck?! That ain't no fuckin' name, yo. That ain't that n***a's name. You can't be serious. Barack Obama. Get the fuck outta here.

XXL: You're telling me you haven't heard about him before.
DMX: I ain't really paying much attention.

XXL: I mean, it's pretty big if a Black…
DMX: Wow, Barack! The n***a's name is Barack. Barack? N***a named Barack Obama. What the fuck, man?! Is he serious? That ain't his fuckin' name. Ima tell this n****a when I see him, "Stop that bullshit. Stop that bullshit" [laughs] "That ain't your fuckin' name." Your momma ain't name you no damn Barack.

XXL: So you're not following the race. You can't vote right?
DMX: Nope.

XXL: Is that why you're not following it?
DMX: No, because it's just—it doesn't matter. They're gonna do what they're gonna do. It doesn't really make a difference. These are the last years.

XXL: But it would be pretty big if we had a first Black president. That would be huge.
DMX: I mean, I guess…. What, they gon' give a dog a bone? There you go. Ooh, we have a Black president now. They should've done that shit a long time ago, we wouldn't be in the fuckin' position we in now. With world war coming up right now. They done fucked this shit up then give it to the Black people, "Here you take it. Take my mess."