In Saturday's Washington Post, Style section writer Jose Antonio Vargas wrote light-hearted advice to Hillary Clinton on her request for ideas for a campaign song. (To those who would easily nominate the gospel song "I Ain't Noways Tired," which Hillary mangled in a spoken-word performance with a bad Southern accent in Selma back in March, just know the Post news staff never touched that with a ten-foot pen.*)
Vargas suggested "Upgrade U," where soul singer Beyonce sings about being an upgrade to her man, the rapper Jay-Z. "See, you and Bill can be the B and Jay of politics," Vargas oozed.
We were at a club on Connecticut Avenue recently and one of Beyoncé's thumpin', heavy-on-the-bass ditties made us think of you. Maybe you've heard it, "Upgrade U"? It's about Beyoncé, the hardest-working woman in the biz, upgrading her man, CEO-rapper Jay-Z, still the baddest MC around.
First Jay raps: " How you gon' upgrade me? What's higher than number 1? You know I used to beat that block. Now I be's the block."
Then B sings: " I hear you be the block but I'm the lights that keep the streets on. . . You need a real woman in your life . . . Introduce you to some new things . . . Upgrade you."
See, you and Bill can be the B and Jay of politics. What with all this buzz about the Clinton dynasty (Bush in '88, Clinton in '92, Bush '00, Clinton '08?), and all the talk about you possibly being the first woman to head the White House.
Beyoncé does croon to Jay, "It's very seldom that you're blessed to find your equal."
Now, we're not saying you have to roll around on top of a mountain of bling, like she does in her music video, telling Jay, " Ya dynasty ain't complete without a chief like me."
But with Barack breathing down your neck and Bill's I-have-confidence-in-Hillary video being kinda so-so, we thought "Upgrade U" might give you some juice.
Bill Clinton could have something in common with Jay-Z, given his appetite for "Big Pimpin'."
*For the record, columnist Eugene Robinson mentioned Hillary's lyrical gospel citation but made no mention of the very mockable accent that came with it.
