Barack Obama speaking with Hasan Minhaj on the comedian's Hope for a Hopeless Generation series.
Barack Obama Confirms He's Actually Making Those Viral Playlists
During a 30-minute chat with Hasan Minhaj, former President Barack Obama insisted that his annual television, film and music playlist are, in fact, made by him.
Comedian, writer, and political commentator, Hasan Minhaj, got the real from former U.S. President Barack Obama on his viral yearly playlists.
During a 30-minute sit-down with Minhaj, Obama was asked if he really enjoys those annual round-ups of music, books and movies. Nearly getting up from his seat, the 61-year-old ex-president confirmed. “I do! Listen. I am so glad that I have this opportunity,” Obama exclaimed. “People – they believe the books and the movies, but the playlists, they somehow think — and this is mostly coming from young people like you — somehow, y’all think you invented rock ‘n’ roll. You invented hip-hop. And so the fact that my lists are, you know, pretty incredible — people seem to think, well, he must’ve had some 20-year-old intern who was figuring out this latest cut. No, man! It’s on my iPad right now.”
The tech-savvy husband and father of two unapologetically said that he has SiR and Scribz Riley's song “Life Is Good” on his iPad (“Yes, I do. Come on, man. Don’t play with me.”) Obama revealed that while he indulges in a majority of what he lists, he’s also open to “suggestions.”
“Look, here’s the bottom line of my playlists and my book lists and my movie lists. I am very scrupulous about making sure that this is stuff that I actually like,” he continued. “I will confess that there are times — on the playlists, on the music lists — where I will get suggestions. Because it’s not like I got time to be listening to music all the time. So typically, at the end of the year, what happens is folks will be like, “Man, you need to listen to this. This is good.” But unless I’m actually listening to it, watching it, reading it, I won’t put it on there.”
Since Obama’s eldest daughter, Malia, received a writing credit on the Donald Glover co-created show Swarm, the comedic thriller could find a place on the former president’s next summertime list.
Watch the full interview below.