Republican candidate for the open NY-21 seat in Congress, Anthony Constantino, released his first ever album in a new genre – ‘presidential album’ – back in January. The founder and CEO of Sticker Mule, based in Amsterdam, made headlines earlier this year with the release of Thank You President Trump, the first for a candidate for national office.
You may wonder, why review an album now that came out in January? It seems notable that a candidate for Congress would release a hip-hop/rap/country album dedicated to the current president, and with the election only a few weeks away, this sort of release is just what NYS Music is for – bringing new artists and new music to the attention of music lovers everywhere.
And if you don’t want to give it a listen, don’t worry, we took the one for the team and listened to every track. Here is our unfettered, unbiased review of this ‘presidential album,’ written and executive produced by Constantino.
First let’s address the “Thank You’’s – nine short tracks all under a minute in length that appear in between most songs, and are common among hip-hop albums; think “Interludes” found on Outkast albums, just an inserted ‘Thank You’ message from the likes of Roger Stone (yes, that guy), former NFL player Antonio Brown, rapper Greatness, golfer John Daly and some regular Americans offering praise for the president. It’s a veritable who’s who of whoa, really? While they frame the song that follows each “Thank You”, the PSA style from their over the top platitudes is cringeworthy, but skippable.
Diving in, the first song on the album, “In the USA,” is a country/hip-hop mashup, with Midwest rapper Greatness sharing generic pride for America. Included in this are a Kanye name drop, a reference to the Alamo, BBQ and Fireworks; Lee Greenwood, this is not, but more to the point, it is difficult if not impossible to tell if or where Constantino is rapping here. As the first name on the track, you’d think he was the main act, with supporting players filling in, but there was nothing to hear on this track other than Greatness, a face-tatted Midwest Hip-Hop/Rap Inspirational Artist who is really the highlight of the album, a veritable Atlas doing the heavy lifting.
With “MAGA Again” you can’t hear Constantino until 1 minute left in the track, where maybe that’s him? But on “Trump” where the president’s name is repeated over and over and over again – this is 100% Anthony Constantino – simple, repetitive, attention grabbing if anything, and written with the intention of creating a catchy anthem, or at least catching the president’s attention. Perhaps that is who this album was written for.
“Art of the Deal” brings Greatness back to the vocals, where he praises all the ‘deal’ making the president has made in his career and in office, parroting Trump talking points with unverified facts. Mesus guests on the track.
Looking for more vocal contributions from Constantino brings us to “Fight,” which has the most Spotify streams of all tracks on the album at 40,000+. Stemming from the attempted assassination in July 2024, a first pass on the track only has vocals from Greatness, but in watching the video, you can see Constantino lip-syncing along with Greatness, not contributing anything visibly or otherwise audible.
“War,” however, is 100% Constantino, where he echoes more talking points on the number of wars ended by the president, prides the phrase ‘peace through strength’ and mocks Bush/Cheney, the progenitors of never-ending war in the Middle East. Notably, he adds in ‘He doesn’t start wars, he ends them,’ but given that this album was released in January, maybe Constantino is regretting that line, given the ongoing American/Israeli war against Iran?
Kamoya sings on “Family Man,” whose melody has an aspect of Air Supply’s “Even the Nights are Better” that I can’t put my finger on, but it definitely comes off as less than organic.
Naturally, a song that talks about the Golfer in Chief had to be included, and when Clayton Q, a Nashville based country artist, begins singing over a ripped off “La Grange” intro, you have to laugh and recall the president is a huge cheat when it comes to golf. Take this passage from sports journalist Rick Reilly’s book Commander in Cheat:
“Trump doesn’t just cheat at golf. He throws it, boots it, and moves it. He lies about his lies. He fudges and foozles and fluffs. At Winged Foot, where Trump is a member, the caddies got so used to seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway they came up with a nickname for him: ‘Pele.’”
So when Clayton Q sings about sinking multiple holes in one, you gotta wonder if he saw this in person or is taking it on faith, ignoring years of documented lies about his golf prowess.
Anyways, “Freedom” is one of the more confusing tracks on the album, where Constantino – either talking or backing up Greatness, and flatly at that, praises the First and Second Amendments, and adds in talking points before speaking in Spanish, just to curse out Democrats.
Then there’s Roger Stone, who caps off the album with the final “Thank You,” talk-singing on this piano-heavy interruption. It’s just like the other “Thank You”s, but there is no substance here, just trumpian talking points regurgitated, as if the speaker won a contest to appear on an album, and this ends up being the one that fulfills the terms of the contest, even for Stone.
And while Thank You President Trump is definitely the first album of its kind, Lee Atwater of all people is name-dropped on the final track. For those unfamiliar, Atwater was a Republican strategist who developed both the ‘New Southern Strategy,’ which helped get Reagan elected, and crafted the Willie Horton ad that sank Michael Dukakis in the 1988 election, leading George H.W. Bush to the presidency.
But between these overt racist efforts by Atwater and the 1980s GOP, Atwater released Red Hot and Blue, which inexplicably was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Recording, with B.B. King. So that’s the bar for the genre, yet I can’t see Constantino leading a ‘For Your Consideration’ campaign for any of these tracks.
When first released, Constatino said of the album, “We want to persuade all Americans to be more patriotic and see the world as we see it, using the power of music.” OK, fair enough, the power of music can encourage patriotism, as memories of “God Bless the U.S.A.” still burn bright from the first Gulf War. The candidate adds, “It’s an honor to have you listen to a speech once, but music can be enjoyed over and over again,” and while that might be true, I don’t see this album let alone any tracks being enjoyed more than once, if at all. This was a painful listen, and I gave it the old college try, now hopeful that this doesn’t screw up my Spotify algorithm.
The most unsurprising part of the album was that the entire LP was recorded and produced in just two weeks. It shows.
In the interest of fairness, we reached out to Constantino’s opponent in NY-21, Blake Gendebein, to ensure fair coverage of music releases. This was their response: “Thanks for reaching out. Blake has not released any albums, nor does he have any plans to release an album in the future.”
Election Day is November 3. Find your polling place here.
