Kendrick Lamar opened his set at The White House with critical ’Obama say what it do?’ line

It was also blasted at the end and throughout the performance

(AFP/Getty)

Only an artist as respected as Kendrick Lamar could get away with something as cheeky as burning the President of the Unites States in his own home.

K-Dot was invited by Obama to play his Fourth of July party alongside Janelle Monae on Monday night, playing a Good Kid Maad City-heavy set (presumably because To Pimp A Butterfly is so politicised).

Painfully, given the seriousness of his subject matter, he was made to censor out all swear words and even terms like 'gun', ‘gang sign', 'shooter' and 'hood’, but he did, however, barb the performance with a slight jab at the president.

The set was started and finished with a blast of his line “Obama say what it do?” from ‘Hood Politics’, which followed the line “They give us guns and drugs, call us thugs / Make it they promise to fuck with you” in the song, and is interpreted as focusing on Obama’s inability to help black people when it really matters.

The line is part condemnation, part sympathy. Here’s a pretty solid annotation on it from Genius:

Obama say, "What it do?"
― Kendrick Lamar – Hood Politics

Kendrick was his usual mischievous self at the party, also poking fun at the censorship during ‘Swimming Pools’ by subbing in lemonade, Kool-Aid, water and soda for its usual liquor bottles.

Weirdly, he didn’t play ‘How Much a Dollar Cost’, despite it being Obama’s favourite song of 2015.