Beyoncé and Jay-Z have publicly supported Hillary Clinton. (Getty)
Rap mega-star Jay-Z will hold a special concert in Cleveland, Ohio, aimed at rallying young, African-American voters to show at the polls and vote for Hillary Clinton, according to a report Monday morning by BuzzFeed News. No date for the concert has been announced — but the presidential election will be held on November 8.
Jay-Z, aka Shawn Carter, and his superstar wife Beyoncé Knowles have publicly supported Clinton, though without issuing a formal “endorsement.” Beyoncé appeared with Clinton at fundraiser in May.
Rallying African-American voters has been key to Clinton’s success in her campaign this year. In her hard-fought Democratic primary victory over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton won nearly 76 percent of the African-American vote.
African-American voters under the age of 30, however, narrowly leaned toward Sanders, who won 52 percent of that voting bloc according to a study of exit polling data in several states by NBC News.
Jay-Z to headline get-out-the-vote-concert for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland: Jay-Z often campaigns for Democr…
In Ohio, bringing out the African-American vote may prove especially important for Clinton. Her lead over republican Donald Trump in that state is narrow — just 1.5 percentage points according to the FiveThirtyEight.com polling average, and Trump is trending upward, winning three of four major Ohio state polls released over the past two weeks.
But the state’s population is nearly 13 percent African-American. Bringing African-American voters to the polls could seal the state, and its 18 electoral votes into Clinton’s column.
Jay-Z is no stranger to the campaign trail, including in Ohio. In 2012, he co-headlined a concert in support of Barack Obama with Bruce Springsteen at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.