Chamillionaire
Chamillionaire Wikipedia

Martha Raddatz is earning accolades for her performance as moderator of the vice presidential debate Thursday from the Washington Post, Forbes magazine, and -- Chamillionaire?

That’s right. ABC News' senior foreign-affairs correspondent has been praised for her strict control of the debate’s tone, as well as for her message to the audience before the event began about the danger of not silencing cell phones.

“I’m not the scolding type, so I am not really going to repeat all these things about turning off your cell phones,” Raddatz told the audience at Centre College in Danville, Ky. “I’m just going to give you a warning. I was once in a White House briefing and phone went off, and my son, who is here tonight, had put in Chamillionaire’s ‘Ridin’ Dirty,’ which is apparently hip-hop … and I have never had my cellphone go off anywhere again.”

You can find a clip of her short message below, as well as a video of the incident in the White House pressroom to which Raddatz referred.

“Can’t lie. That just made my night. Appreciate it. @MarthaRaddatz Keep it gangsta,” Chamillionaire tweeted after he was mentioned.

Now, naturally, a new video has surfaced with footage of Raddatz’s lauded performance behind the moderator’s table spliced together with “Ridin’ Dirty,” which was Chamillionaire’s biggest hit. The soundtrack to the video will take viewers back to 2007, but the images are decidedly more of the present. The clips are almost exclusively of the moments Raddatz was bringing the emotions of the debate under control and making sure the candidates respected her at the other end of the table.

Time has not been friendly to the rapper, who has seen his career fade since the 2007 hit took over the airwaves. TMZ reported in 2010 that Chamillionaire’s home went into foreclosure because he was unable to keep paying the bills.

However, Raddatz is basking in the newfound limelight after outshining Jim Lehrer, who moderated the first presidential debate this month. Raddatz pressed both vice presidential candidates on the specifics of their policy plans and on what exactly each man meant when accusing the other of lying.