Black Thought, MF DOOM, Kendrick Lamar and NxWorries have landed on Barack Obama‘s Favorite Songs of 2022 list, among other notable Hip Hop names.
As he’s done since he was in office, the former president released his lists of favorite books, films and songs of the year on Instagram on Friday (December 23). The songs list included a variety of genres, but leaned heavily on Hip Hop and R&B.
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While the list was not numbered, the first song mentioned was Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5,” the teaser single released ahead of K.Dot’s fifth studio Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. Also included was MF DOOM’s posthumous appearance on Black Thought and Danger Mouse‘s “Belize”; “Where I Go” by Anderson.Paak and Knxwledge as the duo NxWorries and Lizzo‘s inescapable hit, “About Damn Time.”
“I always enjoy sharing my end of year music playlist with all of you — and this year we heard a lot of great songs. Here are some of my favorites,” Barack Obama captioned the post, before asking followers to recommend their favorites of the year as well.
Ari Lennox, Beyoncé, SiR, Steve Lacy, SZA, Tank and The Bangas and Xavier Omar represented for the R&B side of things, making for quite the diverse selection within that genre.
The former president’s annual lists tend to span a range of musical tastes and this year included popular releases by Bad Bunny, Burna Boy, Ethel Cain, Zach Bryan and Reggae artist Koffee.
Earlier this year, the 44th President delivered his other annual music tradition, the Summer Playlist, which also featured some of the songs and artists who made the end-of-year cut.
From Lil Yachty’s “Split/Whole Time” and Rakim’s “When I B On The Mic” to Wyclef Jean’s “Guantanamera” featuring Lauryn Hill and Kendrick Lamar’s “Die Hard,” the 44-track offering reaffirmed Obama’s love of Hip Hop past and present.
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Vince Staples, whose “Magic” track with Mustard landed at No. 43 on the playlist, couldn’t help but comment. An hour after Obama shared the playlist, the Long Beach-bred rapper popped up on Twitter with reference to the ad-lib he used in the song.
“If I convince Obama to get put on the set y’all gon be mad ?,” Vince joked as an acknowledgment of the inclusion.
