He's undeniably the smoothest POTUS we've ever witnessed (although 90's sax man Clinton could give him a run for his jewels).
He just sort of gets it. From citing Kendrick Lamar's phenomenal 'To Pimp A Butterfly' as his favorite record of the year to his literal *mic drop* at his last White House Correspondents dinner, we didn't think Barack could get any cooler. Until, that is, he announced the launch of his own music festival, set to take place on the White House lawn.
The name of the festival is South by South Lawn, and will be hosted in the gardens of the White House on October 3
rd- the last official week of Obama’s presidency as US elections take place on the 8
th.
According to a press release, South by South Lawn (taking inspiration from the popular festival SXSW in Texas) will be a ‘festival of ideas, art, and action…it will bring together creators, innovators, and organizers who work day in and day out to improve the lives of their fellow Americans and people around the world.’
The event is comprised of three parts- an interactive panel discussion with ‘influencers’ using their power to bring about change, a film portion for aspiring cineastes concluding with a blowout concert featuring performances by ‘well-known and emerging artists’.
Although no musical acts have been confirmed thus far, it is more than likely that Obama will invite industry titans such as Beyonce, Kanye and Jay Z.
If his
summer playlists are anything to go by, we can expect a bit of D’Angelo, Fiona Apple and Chance the Rapper. Also fingers, legs and toes crossed for Kendrick Lamar.
I guess we never realised how good we had it with Obama. Okay, he has his flaws but I'm sure most of us would take him over Trump any day (at least I hope most of us would).
