The media has had something of a love affair with Barack Obama, despite the claims of innumerable liberal bloggers. A number of left-leaning magazines catering to presumed Obama supporters have printed covers featuring Barack Obama. In addition, Obama has appeared on a wide variety of covers for publications targeted towards predominantly African-American audiences as Ebony, Jet, and Vibe (a pop culture/music magazine that has pushed for a broader audience than it's rap-centric counterparts The Source and XXL). No one publication has as much affection for Obama than Rolling Stone. The Stone has featured Obama on the cover twice as of this writing. Below are both covers as well as a very Obamaganda-ish cover for URB.
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Rolling Stone 1048, March 20, 2008. This cover was painted by Brooklyn-based illustrator Tim O'Brien, depicting Obama as a messiah-like figure standing boldly, gazing bravely into the future with the text "A New Hope" (Star Wars reference). The contents of the issue were primarily concerned with Obama's groundbreaking grassroots campaign and editor Jann S. Wenner's endorsement of Barack Obama as the democratic presidential nominee over rival Hillary Clinton.
Rolling Stone 1056/1057, July 10-24, 2008. In July of 2008, Rolling Stone devoted a good portion of a special summer double issue to the recently announced democratic presidential nominee. Adopting a less is more philosophy the Stone published a simple portrait by photographer Peter Yang, without the usual text teasers that seem to be a necessary evil of the design industry (although Esquire has been doing great stuff with teaser text since September 2006 incorporating it a great deal into the cover photos, check out the Esquire cover gallery). Instead, Obama's head takes up a great deal of the cover, extending above the nameplate. The cover is an instant classic featuring Obama, eyes downcast, Jim Carrey grin plastered across his face as if smiling bashfully at a comment made by an adoring photo shoot assistant.
URB 155, Sept/Oct 2008. Illustrator Ron Wimberly provided this beautiful Roy Lichtenstein-inspired art for the cover of URB's Power Issue. From URB: The Power Issue explores the various definitions of power within the escalatingly closer worlds of independent and "mainstream" music and culture. The illustration features Obama juxtaposed with hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and french electronic music DJ/label owner/manager Busy-P, both influential artists in their chosen field of craft.
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