Following in the footsteps of beer-drinking “See, I’m just like you”, Elizabeth Warren, California Attorney General Kamala Harris released a short video clip on Monday of her “Mood Mix” on Spotify -proving just how “down” she is with young Americans and their music.
This cringe-worthy two and a half minute long clip shows Harris attempting to come across as relatable to other Americans, when the only thing she truly proves is that she isn’t familiar with any of the song’s lyrics, constantly looking off camera for approval after trying to recite lines from her “favorite” songs, and ultimately failing to do so.
Harris begins the video with a song that she says always makes her dance, A Tribe Called Quest’s “Check the Rhime,” and then says, “You know what I’m talking about Phife.?”
Phife Dawg, aka Malik Taylor died in 2016, at the age of 45 after suffering complications from diabetes. For someone as big of a fan of A Tribe Called Quest as Harris wants you to believe she is, wouldn’t she know that?
This first song is followed by an uncomfortable cackle, much like Hillary Clinton’s famous witchy laugh…like fingernails across a chalkboard…yikes.
Harris says her favorite song from a movie is “Purple Rain” by Prince and “Shallow” by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper. “Purple Rain” is a classic, so I’ll let that one slide, but “Shallow” is an interesting choice for a few reasons. Perhaps Kamala needed to throw at least one caucasian artist in the mix, so who better than the outspoken liberal Lady Gaga–who has always been an activist for LGBT rights, supported Christine Blasey Ford during the Kavanaugh investigation, and even wrote a song “Americano” on immigration rights in Arizona? The movie “A Star Is Born” is only a few months old, having released in October of 2018–so it’s not really a classic that everyone is familiar with. That’s not to say the movie, or the song are not great-I can’t say I’ve seen the movie, and I just heard the song before writing this piece to familiarize myself and get into the mind of Kamala Harris (lol). Or it could be that Kamala just identified with the song’s title?
Some of the lyrics to “Shallow”:
I’m off the deep end, watch as I dive in
I’ll never meet the ground
Crash through the surface, where they can’t hurt us
We’re far from the shallow now
Kamala’s favorite song for a cookout, “Lemonade” by Beyonce of course. What else right? Can’t forget Bey in the “Mood Mix.”
Harris says the song that “Lifts my spirits, always,” has to be “Oh Happy Day” by The Edwin Hawkins Choir.
The song Kamala says has to be played loudly “..because you have to hear the bass..” is “Sun is Shining” by Bob Marley & the Wailers.
Kamala looks to someone out of the camera shot for approval, saying, “Right?,” and then attempts to sing the first few lines of the song–which she can’t do. The first few lines of the song are as follows:
Sun is shining, the weather is sweet, yeah!
make you wanna move your dancing feet now
to the rescue, here I am!
want you to know, y’all
can you understand?
All she can remember is the first three words to the song, the same as the title, “Sun is shining”…then she draws a blank. Clearly these are her favorite songs, right?
Harris then explains that the song that reminds her most of her Alma Mater, Howard University, which she says is “the Mecca, the real HU” is “Push It” by…..wait for it… “Salt & Pepper.” That’s right, not Salt-n-Pepa, Kamala pronounces it “Salt & Pepper”–with a hard “R” at the end. Now, first of all, if this is one of your favorite songs, wouldn’t you know the artist’s name and how to pronounce it? Secondly, if this is a song that reminds you of your time in college, with friends, and more than likely a few house parties, I’m sure this is a song that would be on the radio and cassette tapes everywhere. It’s an iconic song for a less than iconic time period that most people over the age of 30 know and love-how can you NOT know how to pronounce the name of the group?
SO RELATABLE.
A few lyrics from “Push It” released in 1986:
Salt and Pepa’s here, and we’re in effect
Want you to push it, babe
Coolin’ by day then at night working up a sweat
C’mon girls, let’s go show the guys that we know
How to become number one in a hot party show
Now push it
Ah, push it, push it good
Ah, push it, push it real good
Ah, push it, push it good
Ah, push it, p-push it real good
Harris’s favorite song from her childhood, “Young, Gifted and Black” by Aretha Franklin. This is pretty self explanatory.
The song Harris says reminds her most of her birthplace, Oakland, California: <<Drumroll>>…………………..anything by Too Short. Though she can’t name one song by Too Short, she looks off camera again and awkwardly says “Too Short!,” cackles some more and is on to the next song on her “Mood Mix.” Proving, she has no idea who Too Short is and can’t name any of his songs. It’s as if someone whispered that in her ear and it was edited out. Here’s a Top 5 List of Too Short’s most popular songs: http://hiphopgoldenage.com/list/top-5-too-short-songs/
Now that we’ve taken a journey back through the 80’s and 90’s, she has to bring us back up to speed with her favorite California rapper, none other than Kendrick Lamar and her favorite by him, “Humble.” Kendrick Lamar began to get the attention of other rappers and labels in 2010 and released his first major label album in 2012. Lamar became a household name in 2016 with his album “Untitled Unmastered” which included “Humble.”
I’m guessing since Lamar is her favorite California rapper, Harris must know how Lamar feels about voting, right??
From Wikipedia: During the 2012 presidential election, Lamar stated, “I don’t vote. I don’t do no voting, I will keep it straight up real with you. I don’t believe in none of the shit that’s going on in the world.” He went on to say that voting was useless, saying, “When I say the president can’t even control the world, then you definitely know there’s something else out there pushing the buttons. They could do whatever they want to do, we all puppets.”
According to Wikipedia, Lamar went on to retract this statement and said he would be voting for Obama because Mitt Romney didn’t have “a good heart.” Lamar went on to meet former President Obama in 2016, and shortly before the meeting, Obama said during an interview that his favorite song in 2015 was Lamar’s “How Much A Dollar Cost”. Yeah, ok.
Kamala explained that rather than listening to songs during her morning workout, she preferred to watch Morning Joe. Of course she does.
Lastly, Kamala is asked for the song that she thinks is the most “presidential”.
Her choice? “One Nation Under A Groove” by Funkadelic. So it’s presidential to simply dance your way out of constrictions?? Got it.
Seems legit.
From “One Nation Under A Groove”:
This is a chance
This is a chance
To dance your way
Out of your constrictions
(Tell suckah!)
Here’s a chance to dance our way
out of our constrictions
Gonna be freakin’
Up and down
Hang-up alley way
With the groove our only guide
We shall all be moved
Ready or not here we come
Gettin’ down on
the one which we believe in
One nation under a groove
gettin’ down just for the funk
(Can I get it on the good foot)
Gettin’ down just for the funk of it
(Good God)
(bout time I got down one time)
One nation and we’re on the move
Nothin’ can stop us now
One thing is for certain, Kamala Harris has joined the league of politicians who have put out cringey videos/live feeds trying to show just how relatable they are. These are down-to-earth people who just so happen to be politicians. They’re just as familiar with everyday American life and culture as the next person, right?
You decide.
Did you miss Elizabeth Warren’s awkward Instagram Live video? It’s gold. My favorite part is when she thanks her husband for being there–at the home that they share. So relatable.
One last gem that we can’t forget: Hillary Clinton, just chillin’ in Cedar Rapids.
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