How do you get young non-white people to vote for you when you’re a middle-aged balding white man? François Hollande has the answer. Introduce Hip-Hop into the French Presidential Election and use a popular song by two famous US rap stars, Kanye West and Jay-z’s “Ni**as in Paris.” Film yourself surrounded by black and Arab voters who say “big-up”. Change your name to initials only. Get some Final Cut whiz kid to paste it all together with a load of fast-forward and zoom. Set up a YouTube account with the word “crew” in it. “Genius and priceless” (lol).
In a bid to gain more votes from young blacks and Arabs in the suburbs, the left wing candidate François Hollande recently produced a YouTube video campaign with the hip-hop music of Jay-Z and Kanye West titled, “Niggas in Paris.” In the video, the French presidential aspirant can be seen walking in the French suburbs surrounded by blacks and Arab residents.
Even though critics call it a cheap move to get more votes, the strategy seems to be working him. the video that was uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday the 10th of April has received over a hundred thousand views. In addition to the viral YouTube it has received a great amount of positive buzz from social media platform such as Twitter. On the other hand, not everyone is joining the bandwagon. According to France 24, some web critics are complaining of “ethnic marketing.”
In order to find out the effectiveness of the YouTube hip-hop video, we will have to wait. The first round of the 2012 French presidential election will take place on April 22 2012, with a second round run-off, if necessary, being held on 6 May 2012. The current French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is running for a second successive term in the up-coming election.
See videos below;
François Hollande Campaign Video
Jay-Z & Kanye West – Ni**as In Paris
