Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah Join Michelle Obama at SXSW 2016
First Lady Michelle Obama brought some of hip-hop's most important women along with her for a South By Southwest keynote presentation on Wednesday (March 16). Queen Latifah played the role of host of this special conversation while Missy Elliott joined Michelle Obama to provide her insight. The talk focused on female empowerment, Obama's Let Girls Learn initiative and the White House's #62MillionGirls campaign.
Following the opening montage, an abbreviated version of the Michelle Obama commissioned song "This Is for My Girls" was performed. Later on in the event, there was a discussion between the women on what artists and albums influenced them. Missy Elliott credited Queen Latifah as being one of the major influences on her career.
"People like Queen Latifah, who is sitting on this stage, her album, MC Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa. These women are the reason I am an MC," Missy Elliott said. "I became an artist because of their music. Queen Latifah taught us 'U-N-I-T-Y,' she taught us 'Ladies First.' Her music has done so much for me."
Fans of the First Lady might be a little saddened by the talk as Michelle Obama revealed that she has no plans to ever run for president.
"I will not run for president,” she said. "One of the reasons why is I got these two young people at home. Being the daughters of a president - just think about it. C’mon young people, not so easy! They handled it with grace and poise, but enough is enough. And what did we say earlier? There are so many ways to impact the world. You don’t have to be the president of the United States to do wonderful, marvelous things.”
There might not be another Obama in the oval office, but First Lady is determined to make an impact regardless of her status.
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