Made in America Festival reached a climactic end on Saturday night (September 1, 2012), with President Barack Obama sharing stage time with hip-hop legends Jay Z and Kanye West. Jay-Z's headline slot began with his track 'Made in America,' as he jumped up and down on the steps of Philadelphia's Museum of Art, clearly mimicking the cinema legend Rocky, who shares a similar 'rags to riches' story to JayZ.
After he performed 'Public Service Announcement,' fans were treated to a special cameo: a video of President Obama urging them to go out and vote in the forthcoming US presidential elections. Obama revealed that he loves to listen to Jay-Z on his iPod, aligning himself with possibly one of the most powerful figures in modern music in the United States right now, in the hope that he can secure himself a few votes along the way. Obama said that Jay-Z's story is what 'Made in America' means and the current president certainly seems to be dong a better job of utilising modern culture in his political campaigning than rival Paul Ryan, who has managed to annoy Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine and Dee Snider of Poison by using their songs to try and win voters over.
Once the presidential interlude was over, Jay Z welcomed close friend and collaborator Kanye West to the stage to perform a "medley of hits" including 'Mercy' and 'Can't Tell Me Nothing,' according to Huffington Post. The pair the closed the night out by performing their hit 'N****s In Paris.'