Muslim rapper claims he’s ‘signed’ Obama

First the hip hop stars came out for presidential hopeful Barack Obama, with two star-studded videos from Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am and a rap from singer-actor Mos Def. Neither artist was working officially with the campaign team: whether Obama wanted it or not, they were on his side.

Now, if a report in the New York Post is to be believed, the rapper Q-Tip (pictured) has persuaded Obama to appear on his new album "speaking" his way through one number. Given that Q-Tip is a Muslim - he converted in the mid-1990s and goes by the off-stage name of Kamaal Fareed - and that Obama has been desperately trying to persuade America that he is a Christian and not a Muslim, it is quite a coup if true.

Singer Norah Jones and film director Spike Lee are also reported to be appearing on the album. But "Barack is the big one," says Q-Tip, who made his name with the Nineties hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. "You'll see what happens, I can't reveal too much."

It is not clear when Obama is supposed to have signed up for the album. It is possible he is now praying it goes the way of two earlier Q-Tip albums - his 2002 record Kamaal the Abstract and 2005's Open, both of which were reportedly dropped by Arista Records because they lacked commercial appeal.