Hip-hop hitmaker and marijuana enthusiast Waka Flocka Flame announced Monday that he’s running for president. The announcement intentionally came on 4/20, the unofficial holiday for pot smokers.
In a presumably satirical video shot for Rolling Stone magazine, the “No Hands” rapper is seen signing what appears to be formal paperwork to make a run for the White House.
“I’m very pleased to announce today on 4/20, the best day of the year, I will be running for president,” the rapper says directly to the camera. “The first thing I’m gonna do when I get into office is legalize marijuana.”
Apparently, he made a similar pledge two years ago when he tweeted: “I’m dead a– running for president in 2016.”
However, at age 28, he is not eligible to run for the presidency.
In Rolling Stone‘s clip, Waka Flocka Flame is seen smoking what appears to be marijuana and cracks jokes about what his platform would entail.
“The first thing I would f–kin’ stop as president is dogs coming into restaurants,” says Waka Flocka Flame. He also rails about people with “big a– feet,” calls for new educational programs including mandatory study of his lyrics and says he will refuse to wear a suit on the job because they’re too hot.
“I’m gonna raise minimum wage, I feel like all fast food restaurants should pay $15 an hour,” he says in one of his more lucid moments, but he’ll likely lose many progressives with his dismissive remarks on women’s rights: “I feel like women got all the rights already, man, what else do they want?”
Waka Flocka Flame concedes that Hillary Clinton is his only competition because “women love her and her husband’s Bill.” He also says his running mate will be fellow hip-hop performer DJ Whoo Kid. Waka Flocka Flame never addresses what political party he belongs to, or if he himself is even registered to vote.
Waka Flocka Flame, if anything, has been widely ridiculed for being ignorant about politics. The term “Waka Smart,” was popularized in 2010 after the rapper gave a rambling response to a question on BET’s “106 & Park” regarding that year’s midterm elections. “Voting cool, bruh, but I don’t really know much about it, but it’s cool,” he said at the time.
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He has also made headlines in recent years for his unconventional, for a rapper, embrace of PETA, and his decision to call off a scheduled concert at the University of Oklahoma after members of the SAE fraternity on campus were caught on camera chanting racist slurs on a bus.
In an interview with msnbc’s Alex Wagner following that incident, he defended his controversial lyrics, which some blamed for the SAE chants in the first place. “This isn’t about rap, this about what happened on that bus,” he said.
He called the students’ eventual apology for their behavior a “good beginning” and wouldn’t rule out performing for SAE in the future.
Adam Howard