Prometheus 6

A Politician Who Runs on Hip-Hop
Detroit mayor's use of rap lures young voters and suggests the music has electoral juice.

By Geoff Boucher
Times Staff Writer

May 12, 2003

DETROIT -- Amid thundering rap music and the cheers of 8,000 young fans, the handsome star moved to center stage and, the way hip-hop heroes usually do, called out the name of that night's arena crowd. "What's up, Detroit? What's up, Detroit?"

The man at the microphone, though, was no rapper. He was Kwame M. Kilpatrick, the elected leader of this city and, according to his introduction at this rally, "America's hip-hop mayor." That description makes the 32-year-old Kilpatrick roll his eyes - it is too limiting to his taste, too gimmicky for a man trying to cure problems in a famously troubled metropolis - but he acknowledges there is some truth and power to the singular title.