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WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 02: Chrisette Michele performs a song for President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Madam Ho Ching at the White House on August 2, 2016 in Washington, DC. The Obamas are hosting the prime minister and his wife for an official state dinner. (Photo by Leigh Vogel-Pool/Getty Images) Photo by Leigh Vogel-Pool/Getty Images
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In another White House surprise, Trump declares June as African-American Music Appreciation Month

Where were you when Trump announced he liked black music?

3:28 PM

On the surface, this is hilarious. Not like, “Oh, I’m so pleased with this piece of humor,” but more of an “every time I think I couldn’t imagine something more ridiculous, it happens and my only choice is to laugh” kind of funny.

Since we’re already in a good mood, let’s take a look at this press release, never mind the content of the declaration itself. It should be noted that this time last year President Barack Obama did the same thing, in case you were wondering where the motivation for this move came from.

“Songs by African-American musicians span the breadth of the human experience and resonate in every corner of our Nation — animating our bodies, stimulating our imaginations, and nourishing our souls,” the Obama release read. “In the ways they transform real stories about real people into art, these artists speak to universal human emotion and the restlessness that stirs within us all. African-American music helps us imagine a better world, and it offers hope that we will get there together.”

President Donald Trump’s declaration went so far as to specifically reference Chuck Berry, Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald. It’s also double-spaced and misspells the word “canon” as “cannon,” but that’s a different story altogether. How Kendrick Lamar, Maxwell and the Carolina Chocolate Drops were left off this list, who knows. In all seriousness though, the thought of the president sitting around jamming to black music of yesteryear is quite the exercise.

https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/869967985800339456

Wake us up when the president is actually inviting black musicians to play in the White House in front of his friends and family. This guy is always here, right on time.

Clinton Yates is a tastemaker at Andscape. He likes rap, rock, reggae, R&B and remixes — in that order.