Amy Nichole Harris / Shutterstock.com

Amy Nichole Harris / Shutterstock.com

Though Nicki Minaj rhymes on a new Lil Wayne track that she is “a Republican voting for Mitt Romney,” the supposed endorsement should probably not be taken sincerely, at least according to the candidate on the losing end of the statement.

President Obama, in an interview this morning with Power 95.3, a radio station in Orlando, Fla., was quizzed on his and his family’s hip-hop preferences. He said he wasn’t sure if his daughters listened to Minaj, but said that they are both more “hip” than himself and first lady Michelle Obama.

“We try to keep up,” the president said.

But Obama is at least aware enough of Minaj’s work to know that many of her lyrics are dripping with facetiousness. The deejays interviewing Obama played Minaj’s Romney line on Lil Wayne’s song “Mercy” and asked for the president’s response.

“I’m not sure that’s exactly what happened,” Obama said. “She likes to play different characters.”

One of the hosts offered a corresponding argument: “That was probably Roman who did it,” referring to Minaj’s alter-ego Roman Zolanski, depicted as a demonic twin brother in the song “Roman’s Revenge” and other tracks on her 2010 album Pink Friday.

Then again, as The Washington Post’s Chris Richards dutifully discovered last week after “Mercy” dropped, Minaj is not a registered voter.

UPDATE: As I suspected last week, Minaj was goofing on the Republican Party. In a tweet, she acknowledged that even if it took the punditocracy a few days to get the joke, the president recognized her humor:

Filed Under: barack obama, endorsement, fact check, lil wayne, mitt romney, nicki minaj, roman zolanski,