Donald Trump met with Philadelphia rapper OT7 Quanny

On Saturday, while campaigning in the city, former President Donald Trump was surrounded by a rapper from Philadelphia who wore a hat with the slogan “Make America Great Again.”

OT7 Quanny, who performed at Roots Picnic earlier this month, accompanied the Republican presidential candidate on a surprise stop at Tony and Nick’s Steaks in South Philadelphia, posted photos of himself on Trump’s private plane and received a toasty reception at a rally at Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University.

“We have a rapper from Philadelphia, he’s doing amazing things, I’m telling you,” Trump said during his remarks. “He has so much cash he doesn’t know what to do with it. OT7 Quanny… And I like it [MAGA] hat on you. This hat looks great.

Trump has he sought the support of other rappers and serve as campaign surrogates. Casada Sorrell, known as Sada Baby, joined the former president on stage at a campaign event in Detroit two weeks ago. Rappers Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow – both defendants in the gang case – appeared with him at a rally in the Bronx, New York, last month.

” READ MORE: Trump is rallying in North Philadelphia, trying to woo voters in Pennsylvania’s bluest big city

Trump campaign spokesman he told NBC News last week that his appeal to rappers is “totally organic.”

“While Joe Biden blinds Black voters with meaningless ads, empty promises and unrelatable messages, President Trump shows up in these communities and listens to their leaders, including rappers, pastors and business leaders” – Janiyah Thomas, Black representative campaign media director – he said.

Trump is making a concerted effort to broaden his appeal among black voters who have traditionally supported Democrats. Polls show he has gained popularity, particularly among Black men, compared to when he ran for president in 2020, but President Joe Biden still leads in the demographic.

The former president’s rally at the Liacouras Center was his first event held within city limits. Earlier this month, his campaign held a “cigars and cognac” event aimed at engaging black voters. Trump’s surrogate, Republican U.S. Byron Donalds (R-Florida), came under heavy criticism after the event for comments he made about the era of racial segregation during the Jim Crow era.

Biden’s team called Trump’s courtship of black voters inauthentic.

During a Saturday news conference hosted by the presidential campaign, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democrat whose district includes Temple, said Trump stoked the “birtherism” conspiracy theory about former President Barack Obama and then “spent his entire presidency trying to … undermine the security that Black working families relied on.”

“It’s about Donald Trump thumbing his nose at the black and brown community and how he believes that black people are somehow stupid,” Kenyatta said, “as if we don’t remember his history.”

Inquirer staff writer Ellie Rushing contributed to this article.