Photo by David Wolf

In the B-roll of a 2009 interview with ABC News, President Obama memorably weighed in on Kanye West’s stage-bombing of Taylor Swift at that year’s MTV Video Music Awards. “He’s a jackass,” Obama said in an audio clip that quickly went viral, and West would later reference the presidential diss in his song “Power.”

Perhaps unfortunately for West, the view of him from the Oval Office hasn’t changed much in the past two-and-a-half years. In an article in the May issue of The Atlantic assessing West’s career and cultural impact, Obama’s opinion of his fellow Chicagoan hasn’t changed:

“Although I like Kanye,” Obama continues, with an easy smile. “He’s a Chicago guy. Smart. He’s very talented.” He is displaying his larger awareness of the question, looking relaxed, cerebral but friendly, alive to the moment, waiting for me to get to the heart of the matter.

“Even though you called him a jackass?,” I ask.

“He is a jackass,” Obama says, in his likable and perfectly balanced modern-professorial voice. “But he’s talented.”

Obama’s more of a Jay-Z fan, the article’s author, David Samuels, writes. Hov is about “control” and “success” and is married to Beyoncé Knowles, who has partnered with Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Play” youth fitness campaign. West, meanwhile, is a party-crasher who likes to steal the mic and run his mouth.

Even though one could certainly make the case that West is a jackass, not everyone is pleased that Obama is standing by his original statement. Rakim, for one, thinks the president went too far: “He should be a little more focused,” he tells The Atlantic. “I mean, that exposure could have been ‘Yeah, Kanye, he’s a very interesting person.’ Instead of ‘He’s a jackass.’”