Barack Obama just released his new memoir, A Promised Land. Ahead of the book, though, as he often did during his presidency, he shared a playlist. The mix was of songs that Obama listened to during his time in office, and it featured a mix of contemporary and classic artists. One of the musicians included was Bob Dylan, and Obama discussed Dylan’s music during a guest appearance on popular music reaction YouTube channel TwinsthenewTrend.
Obama told twin brothers Fred and Tim Williams of Dylan and his music:
“I’ve been a Bob Dylan fan for a long time, partly ’cause I’m just older. He was part of that social conscience that was in rock music and then later in hip-hop music. Look, I’m like everybody else: I like music about girls and cars and you know, right? Rock and roll and hip-hop. But whenever you can find some musicians that really have a message about how America might be, about how the world might be, that always is something that I pay attention to, and he’s one of the greatest examples of that.”
This clip comes ahead of Obama’s December 16 appearance on the YouTube Originals series BookTube, for which he will discuss his book with TwinsthenewTrend and other YouTube creators.
Obama awarded Dylan the Presidential Medal Of Freedom back in 2012 and said of the artist at the time, “There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music.”
Watch the video above.