Carson speaking in Georgia last month. (Photo: Branden Camp/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Ben Carson has released a new radio ad targeting young black voters in urban areas — with a hip-hop beat.

Carson, the lone African-American in the 2016 presidential race, unveiled the 60-second spot, titled “Freedom,” on Thursday, a day before it was scheduled to begin airing in eight markets — Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Miami, Birmingham, Ala., Jackson, Miss., Little Rock and Memphis — at a cost of $150,000, according to ABC News.

Carson’s campaign enlisted a rapper, Aspiring Mogul, for the ad in the hopes of reaching young African-American voters “in a language that they prefer" and “in a cultural format that they appreciate.”

“Reaching them on a level they appreciate and follow, and see if we can attract their consciousness about the election,” Doug Watts, Carson campaign spokesman, told ABC. “They need to get involved and express their voice through their vote.”







“This happens to be a group that we feel pretty strongly is ready and prepared to start working for Ben Carson,” Watts added.

The ad mixes audio from a stump speech by the soft-spoken retired neurosurgeon with Mogul’s get-out-the-vote rhymes.

“Vote and support Ben Carson, for our next president, it’d be awesome,“ Mogul sings. “If we want to get America back on track, we gotta vote Ben Carson as a matter of fact.”

On Twitter, the reviews of Carson’s rap ad weren’t exactly kind.





Y'all I’m fed up. Biggie didn’t die for this. Ben Carson has a rap ad now?! 😒 https://t.co/3oE1Rbxw0x (h/t @tybcreations) — April (@ReignOfApril) November 5, 2015

NO. This can’t really be the real Ben Carson ad. I am crying. This gotta be an Undercover Brother outtake. https://t.co/sQ2DhC9tZi — best of both worlds. (@MichellCClark) November 5, 2015

CARSON CAMPAIGN: how can we appeal to urban youth SUBURBAN MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: leave this to me https://t.co/AgF7EcvNof — Philip Bump (@pbump) November 5, 2015

#JebCanFixIt and now Carson’s rap song. This has been a special week. — deray mckesson (@deray) November 5, 2015



Carson, the current Republican frontrunner, is not the only GOP candidate turning to radio at this stage in the campaign.

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Donald Trump spent $300,000 on radio ads that are slated to run in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in the next several weeks.

The real estate mogul unveiled two of them on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Thursday. Sadly, neither of Trump’s ads feature rap.







“Our country is in deep trouble,” Trump says in the first spot. “Because, let’s face it, politicians are all talk, no action.”







In the second, a woman’s voice promises Trump will “stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking by building a wall on our southern border,” “brutally and quickly cut off the head of ISIS” and “make our military so strong, no country will ever mess with us.”