Russell Simmons changes tune, endorses Obama

Simmons, 51, had been a vocal critic of Obama after the Illinois senator criticized hip hop last year in the wake of the Don Imus controversy.

Last April, Simmons seemed to argue that Obama did not understand the problems of the urban community as represented through hip hop. 

At a speech in South Carolina, Obama said rappers were "degrading their sisters." He said that "There are a whole bunch of young rappers who look like us, who use the words that Don Imus does, who are on our radio stations."

"My response to Sen. Obama is that you have to talk about the poverty and ignorance that creates such a climate that the poets can talk like that," Simmons responded to ABC News. "And all the politicians owe them an education and an opportunity for a better life -- and maybe they'll say something better."

In another interview published last year, Simmons called Obama a "controlled" politician and questioned his fundraising skills.

"I wish [Obama] really did raise his money on the Internet, like he said. I wish he really did raise his money independently," Simmons said.

Simmons, an Edwards supporter, accused Obama of raising most of his money from big donors and pretending that he was raking in small dollar donations over the Internet. "I think about one-fourth of his campaign contributions came from small donations made over the Internet, even though he collected more than any other Democratic candidate from Wall Street people. So at the end of the day, he's controlled, too. That's my point. He's a mouse, too, like everybody else."

Obama was the first presidential candidate to call for Don Imus to be fired for calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." Imus lost his job but returned to radio late last year.

A year ago Simmons said: "If you could take Barack Obama's image, add Hillary Rodham Clinton's money and John Edwards' voice, that would be my candidate." Obama has since surpassed Clinton in fundraising and Edwards has dropped out of the race.