[both] What's up, YouTube?
-Man, we got a special video out for you guys, man. -Serve.
We gonna react to one of Barack Obama's songs off his book.
It's called
-That's crazy. -[chuckles]
And we gonna also ask him some questions on his book on BookTube in December.
-Yeah. -Stay tuned for that.
But hey, man, let's look at this playlist he was talking about.
-Let's see. -Let's see, man.
He got Jay-Z on there, one of the hits. He got Beyonce.
-Eminem. -That's crazy.
-He got all the hits in there. -Facts, man.
But I think we gonna chew through...
-We gonna choose Bob Dylan, man. -Yeah.
It's called "The Times Are a-Changin'."
-We gonna see what he talk about. -See what he talk about.
-I don't even know who Bob Dylan is. -Never.
-I wonder why Barack Obama chose this song. -For real. We don't see, man.
-["The Times They Are A-Changin'" playing] -Already started off the guitar.
♪ Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam ♪
♪ And admit that the waters Around you have grown ♪
♪ And accept it that soon ♪
♪
-[chuckles] Okay. -That's true.
♪ For the times They are a-changin' ♪
[harmonica riff]
-Ooh. -Damn.
-[song stops] -The title right, the times is changing.
-Times is definitely changing. -From bad to the good.
-I like him when he started off with the guitar. -For real.
-[imitating guitar] -It's a smooth song.
Ain't no-- Smooth, you can kick back to.
-It's like storytelling. He got a campfire. -Yeah, yeah.
He got a lot of people around him on the campfire just telling them stories.
-Definitely with that guitar. [imitating guitar] Yeah. -Uh-huh.
♪ Please get out Of the new one♪
♪
♪ For the times They are a-changin' ♪
Yeah.
[vocalizing in rhythm]
[harmonica riff]
Ooh.
-Whoo! -Okay.
Ooh.
♪ The line, it is drawn The curse, it is cast ♪
Yeah.
♪ The slow one now Will later be fast ♪
♪ As the present now Will later be past ♪
Yeah. Speaking some facts!
♪ The order is rapidly fadin' ♪
♪ And the first one now Will later be last ♪
♪ For the times They are a-changin' ♪
Yeah.
[Tim] Mm-hmm.
-Okay, okay, Bob Dylan. -Okay, Bob Dylan.
-This was cool. -You really had to listen to what he was saying.
-He was speaking some facts. He was speaking how he feel. -For real.
One of my favorite parts of the song, he was like,
just because you don't understand, you can't criticize.
Oh, yeah. Ooh, that's deep right there.
-I do that a lot of times, too. -Yeah, man.
So yeah, I definitely catch myself doing that, man.
-Just 'cause you understand, don't criticize, man. -Yeah, man.
-Most definitely gotta see why Obama put this on his playlist. -Yeah.
Hey, people!
-What's going on?
I hear you guys were asking questions.
I decided I'm just gonna go ahead and come here live.
[both laughing]
What's happening, twins?
-Oh, what's up, man? -Oh, we good.
Tim and Fred, how you doing, man?
-Good. -Feeling good.
Fantastic. And you guys are 22?
-Yes. -Yes, sir.
And you guys have become these YouTube stars
because you've been going to the back list of old songs
and rediscovering them and open up people's minds
to all kinds of different kinds of music.
-Yeah, definitely. -Trying to do that.
Can I ask a question, how you guys got the idea of this show?
Just by the love and passion of music we have.
As we was growing up, we lived in a religious home,
so we wasn't able to listen to all different types of genres.
But as we started getting older and exploring more music,
that's when we started like, "Oh, what is that?"
Then we just started listening to it.
Then somebody requested Frank Sinatra "Under My Skin,"
and that's how we all got started.
-[Obama] That's a great song. -[Fred] Yeah, it is.
[all chuckle]
Sinatra... Sinatra could sing.
-Yeah. -[laughs] Yeah.
So I do playlists all the time just for fun,
and I did that when I was president.
But one of the things I did was do a playlist 'cause I released my book
about the first part of my presidency
called
I appreciate you guys, you know, taking an interest.
-Yeah, for sure. -Yeah, definitely.
I know you guys were preparing a few questions.
What questions do you guys have for me that I haven't answered yet?
Yeah, so when it comes to Bob Dylan and his song,
what's the significance of the song
and why did you add it to your playlist?
I've been a Bob Dylan fan for a long time,
partly 'cause I'm just older.
He was part of that kind of social conscience
that was in rock music and then later in hip-hop music.
Look, I'm like everybody else. I like music about girls and cars.
-And, you know, right. -[twins laughing]
I mean, you know, rock 'n' roll and hip-hop.
But whenever you can find some musicians that really have a message
about how America might be, how the world might be,
that always is something that I pay attention to.
-And he's one of the greatest examples of that. -Yeah.
Did you ever make mixtapes while you were growing up?
I made mixtapes and mixtapes were hard back then. You guys have it easy.
You know, you just get on the computer,
and ba-ba-ba-ba, and it's all done.
Back then, you really had to, like, figure stuff out,
you're stopping, starting, you got all this different equipment.
You're basically using cassette tapes,
and cassette tapes get all messed up.
You know, if you had them in your car and it got too hot, they'd kind of get warped.
Oh, okay.
Sometimes they'd get stuck and then the whole ribbon would get all over the place,
and you'd have to stick a pen in there
and try to roll it back up... It was a hassle.
But I did. You know, we made mixtapes.
But it's nothing like now. I tell Malia and Sasha,
"Y'all don't know how good you got it"
in terms of just being able to pluck and sample,
you know, from anywhere anytime you want.
As long as you got a Wi-Fi connection, you're straight.
What advice do you have for us as young people that's watching this now?
Listen, you guys are living large on YouTube already, at 22.
But let me tell you the thing I really like
'cause I write about this in the book.
One of the most important things we can do as people,
but especially young people,
is opening our minds to how other people feel,
what their traditions are,
you know, trying to make common cause with folks even if they don't look like us,
or didn't come from the same neighborhood or...
The country is so divided right now.
-Yeah. -Yup.
And, you know, on the Internet, a lot of times everybody's just mad,
and what you guys are doing, which is being open to new ideas,
new experiences, and reaching out to different traditions,
that's America at its best.
And I think you guys sending that message is powerful.
So keep on doing what you're doing.
Oh, definitely. Like you said, you know, just get young people,
people around our age to explore more music
and it's cool to listen to that type of music.
Just be different, yup.
-'Cause everybody's stuck in one path. -Yeah.
You guys are doing good. Well, listen, I appreciate you allowing me to crash your party.
I think the producer over there got a couple of books of mine that I signed for you.
-Oh, for real? That's crazy. -Whoa.
-Oh, man. [laughs] -Wow.
[Obama]
And just tell your folks I said hi.
-Okay, for sure. -For sure.
Tell them I appreciate them and maybe I'll get a chance to meet you guys
when I get back home, once this whole COVID situation is settling down a little bit.
-Yeah. For sure. -Oh, yeah, definitely.
All right. Be well, guys, stay healthy.
-All right. You, too. -You, too, thank you.
-Man, crazy. -That's crazy.
[indistinct chatter]
-[woman]
-You can't beat the president. -You can't beat that.
Anybody can say anything, and you can say, "I talked to the President."
[both laughing]
I was definitely nervous, though.
I was shaking down to my boots.
[laughing]
I didn't know what to say there for a while.
[Tim]
[both laughing]