( L - R ) Shaggy, Senator Barack Obama, Yeshemabeth McGregor - file

As Americans go to the polls today to vote for the new president of the United States, Jamaican entertainers have declared their support for presidential contender Barack Obama.

Music has played an integral part in the historic contest among the presidential and vice-presidential contenders: Senator John McCain and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin of the Republican Party and Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joseph Biden Jr of the Democratic Party.

Unsolicited recordings

The popularity of Barack Obama, who is the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party, has inspired more artistes to create unsolicited recordings about the race than anyone else in America's political history.

This includes a number of songs from reggae and dancehall artistes.

Two of the first songs came from Jamaicans, dub poet Malichi Smith with 2008 US Election Derby and reggae veteran Coco Tea with Barack Obama. The support soon followed from dancehall singjay Mavado who endorsed Obama by remixing his On the Rock and recording the song We Need Barack.

Mavado's melody

Mavado sings "Jehovah guide him, be his guidance, they could never stop him, we need Barack, di people dem a cry."

Reggae crooner Tarrus Riley performed an Obama version of his hit Beware earlier this year in Virginia. The clip can be seen on youtube, where Riley sings "black president, we want a black president" to an explosion of screams from the crowd which sings along.

Riley continues, "mek mi run out George Bush out of the house of government, mi nah tell no lie mi waan see black man inna di White House creating history, put up yuh hands if yuh wid me, Barack Obama straight gone a victory."

Songs about Obama also come from calypsonian Mighty Sparrow with Barack The Magnificent, and reggae band Steele Pulse with Red Ride. In an interview on www.digitalspy.co.uk, Jamaican artiste Shaggy, who is also a US resident, stated that he is supporting Obama and compares the politician to the movie figure Rocky Balboa.

Shaggy said "The thing about Obama is that even if he doesn't deliver, he'll at least make the rest of us want to — deliver... You watch Barack Obama speak and he puts a fire under you —-. He gets you charged up to do something and he's a symbol of hope. I doubt he'll change the world, but he may just provide us with the motivation."

Shaggy isn't the only Obama supporter in Jamaica. Jamaican singer Shema Mcgregor is also a US citizen. According to McGregor she wanted to vote for Obama at the US embassy in Jamaica yesterday but missed the scheduled time set for voting as a result of the funeral of Alton Ellis.

An honest man

However, McGregor is still trying to find a way to vote for Obama whom she describes as an honest man. "Personally it's an historic election and I want to see a black man in the White House ... from what I've seen I can find no faults with him, I support what he's trying to do for America" she said.

According to McGregor, the choice that is made today can affect Jamaica in terms of foreign exchange, which is an important Jamaican revenue. As such, McGregor says Jamaicans should focus on what happens today.