“We’re here tonight … to highlight the importance of the arts in our life and in our nation. We’re here to celebrate the power of words and music to help us appreciate beauty, but also to understand pain; to inspire us to action, and to spur us on when we start to lose hope; to lift us up out of our daily existence – even if it’s just for a few moments – and return us with hearts that are a little bit bigger and fuller than they were before.” – President Obama

Rush Limbough can kick rocks. This administration gets it.

The White House recently hosted the first ever evening of poetry, music and spoken word. Jazz musicians, acoustic bassist Esperanza Spalding and pianist Eric Lewis (a.k.a. ELEW), opened the show with a funky arrangement by Lewis titled “Love Letters.”  James Earl Jones performed “Othello” while the First Couple, Director Spike Lee and others watched in awe.  Poetry slam champion Mayda del Valle, a native of Chicago’s South Side, delivered a personal narrative to the cadence of a hip-hop beat.

First Lady, Michelle Obama, Behind the Mic

There were many other talented folks in the building (read the coverage here or here) but stop for a second.  Can you imagine past presidents doing this? You can envision George and Laura spitting a couple verses for us, bopping their heads to the beat?

No, you probably couldn’t.  Not because George is rhythmless but because spoken word, hip hop, the power of words and music, etc.  weren’t important before.  At least not in a formal way. Not with the people who made policy that affected our every day lives.  That was until the myspace/facebook/twitter/ipod/hip hop/green generation voted for something a little different.  Changed the game a little bit.

I have to tell you, it’s not so much the that jazz, poetry, hip hop and spoken word were actually welcomed, invited and appreciated  in the White House that impresses me the most. It’s the recognition that doing something like this would be important.  That it should happen. That young people, hip hop heads, poets, artists, lovers of good music and creative minds would appreciate it. That it could be powerful. That it mattered.

They get it.

Pics courtesy of Angie Martinez and Talking Points Memo.

Bassist Esperanza Spalding, a 2005 recipient of the Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship, performs.

Director, Spike Lee chats it up with VP Joe Biden