By GRANT KRUSZEWSKI
staff writer

Many things today shape the political landscape of the United States.
So many aspects of everyday life go into a person’s decision of who to vote for, and oddly enough, one of those aspects is hip-hop.
You may wonder how hip-hop or music in general ties into the election, but Hillary Clinton, Democratic presidential nominee, has tapped into the full potential of this voting channel.
On Friday, Clinton will host a free admission concert featuring hip-hop legend Jay Z.
In order to get their hands on a ticket, hopeful attendees had to wait in line and fill out a card with some personal information last Friday in Cleveland.
Attendees also had the option to gain preferred seating by volunteering at a local Clinton HQ and by going door-to-door for a total of four hours. However, it is assumed that most will stick with their general admission ticket.
I will hopefully be attending this concert, as I picked up my tickets early last Friday morning.
I arrived in downtown Cleveland at around 7:30 a.m. and the line was already wrapped around the block. My friend and I waited for about 2 ½ hours until we finally got our tickets.
The atmosphere was absolutely unbelievable, but who was surprised? It’s a free concert by Jay Z, one of the greatest rappers of all time.
I got there very early to get my tickets, but as I was leaving the pickup location around 10:30 a.m., the line was twice as long as it was when I originally got there.
The one thing I noticed was that the people were buzzing about Jay Z, not Clinton, the one giving away the tickets.
Overall, what I took away from the experience is that a free concert with one of the hip-hop greats performing is an absolutely amazing way to rally voters, especially in an urban area like downtown Cleveland.
Personally, if Clinton were to come up to me and say, “Grant, if you vote for me, you can see Jay Z live in concert,” as a hip-hop enthusiast, I couldn’t turn it down.
This made me realize that if I had this attitude, I’m sure there are tens of thousands of young voters who feel as if their vote is “irrelevant” and will vote for whoever gives them the most immediate benefit.
I hope that this is not the case because if so, it’s terrifying that our votes can be bought simply with the ability to see someone in concert we never thought we’d be able to see in our lives.
President Barack Obama hosted an event similar to what Clinton has planned back in 2012 with Jay Z and the turnout was over 15,000 in the Quicken Loans Arena.
The Clinton campaign has not released any further information about the concert, only saying that it will take place Friday.
More information is to be released via text message or email to the people who signed up for tickets at the pickup location in Cleveland.

GRANT KRUSZEWSKI
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