Elizabeth Harrington of the Washington Free Beacon documents a critical use of taxpayer money.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) paid $88,529 to make a hip-hop cd about obesity.

A research project to look into whether music can be used for obesity prevention resulted in rap songs about drinking less soda and the horrors of eating junk food.

“Positive Records,” a music-based messaging company, received the USDA grant to develop the album and then play it for elementary students in California.

The grant said that the agency wanted to “take advantage” of the popularity of rap music among young African-Americans to transmit messages about healthy eating.

“The target audience for the Music CD would be African American youths ages 8 to 12,” the USDA said. “Although music is a widely consumed communications channel among youth, it is under-utilized in health communications.”

The USDA said songs about health are “classic by definition.”

Check out one of the “classics” below.