Mike Huckabee takes aim at Jay-Z and 'X-rated' Beyonce 'trash' in new book, claiming the rapper is 'crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object' 

• Baptist-minister-turned Fox News host ended his weekly show on Jan. 3 and is expected to run for president
• He lashes out at the hip-hop power couple in his book 'God, Guns, Grits and Gravy,' due on shelves Jan. 20
• Huckabee also slaps the Obamas for letting their daughters listen to Beyonce's music, which he calls 'that trash'
• He zings the nutrition-obsessed first lady for 'letting their brains ingest obnoxious and toxic mental poison in the form of song lyrics'
• Huckabee was governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007 and won the Iowa Caucuses in 2008 along with five Super Tuesday primaries

By David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com

Published: 01:12 EST, 9 January 2015 | Updated: 01:12 EST, 9 January 2015

Likely Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee takes a swipe at Jay-Z and Beyonce in his new book, calling out the hip-hop duo for their on-stage sexual gyrations and explicit lyrics, and slams the Obamas for their close relationship with the A-list couple.

'How can it be that the Obamas let Sasha and Malia listen to that trash?' the onetime Arkansas governor-turned-Fox News host asks. 'Apparently they do.'

'Beyonce is incredibly talented – gifted, in fact,' the former Baptist minister writes. 'She has an exceptional set of pipes and can actually sing. She is a terrific dancer – without the explicit moves best left for the privacy of her bedroom.'

But that's where the love-fest ends in the book 'God, Guns, Grits and Gravy.'

'Jay-Z is a very shrewd businessman,' Huckabee adds, 'but I wonder: Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object?'

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is ginning up interest in a second presidential campaign with a new book that throws elbows at pop-culture icons while positioning himself as a preacher from 'flyover country'

Huckabee slammed the hip-hop diva for her racy performance of 'Drunk in Love' at the 2013 Grammy Awards, saying that she had 'agreed to humiliate herself' with a show that one author referred to as 'foreplay'

The book hits shelves on January 20 and is seen as a vehicle for Huckabee to take a second bite at the presidential campaign apple in 2016.

He last ran in 2008, winning the Iowa caucuses and five Super Tuesday primaries before conceding the Republican nomination to Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Huckabee's weekend Fox News show has positioned him as a conservative culture warrior who may find it difficult to attract an audience in an increasingly secular America.

And nowhere in his book is the culture war between the coasts and 'flyover country' more present than in his backhand dismissals of Jay-Z and Beyonce.

The music video for 'Drunk in Love,' the song Huckabee criticizes in his book, includes explicit lyrics and images of a sultry Beyonce strutting on a beach

'FROM HUSBAND TO PIMP': Jay-Z makes an appearance in the 'Drunk in Love' video, rapping 'Slip the panties right to the side / Ain't got the time to take drawers off' as his wife dances seductively

The pair headlined the 2013 Grammy Awards, opening the broadcast with a performance of their hit 'Drunk in Love.'

Huckabee calls it a 'song' – air quotes included.

'Beyonce must have been confused,' he writes, 'when she agreed to humiliate herself by performing in a way that prompted this comment from author Charlotte Hays (whose book When Did 'White Trash Become the New Normal?' says it all): "Honestly, I didn't want to watch Jay-Z and Beyonce's foreplay".'

Huckabee's latest culture-war book hits shelves on January 20

'The song contains words and imagery so graphic that they would never make it through the editing process of this book. (Not that I would want them to!) But the onstage gyrations, bare flesh, and (most of) the lyrics did make it onto CBS, again during the smoldering remnants of what used to be the "family hour".'

Beyonce's rap lyrics in 'Drunk in Love' include 'I get filthy when that liquor get into me.' Her husband enters the song halfway through, intoning about 'foreplay in the foyer / f***ed up my Warhol.'

'Slip the panties right to the side,' Jay-Z continues in the wildly popular track. 'Ain't got the time to take drawers off.'

The song's video has been played a stunning 245 million times on YouTube, treating viewers to repeated shots of Beyonce gyrating in a swimsuit and swapping lines with Jay-Z about their sex life.

Beyonce, Huckabee reflects, 'was a huge, breakout star before going X-rated. She proved she doesn't need to lower herself to this type of crude exploitation to be a megastar.'

'She must know that millions of young girls look up to her as a role model to emulate. And she even has a daughter herself now. So why has she done this?'

First lady Michelle Obama is a close Beyonce friend, taking Sasha, her younger daughter, to a concert in July.

The singer serenaded the first couple as they danced at their first inaugural ball, and performed America's national anthem at President Barack Obama's second inauguration.

She later admitted she had lip-synched the patriotic song.

'THAT TRASH': Beyonce performed onstage at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum in Inglewood, California

FOrmer Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was a force to be reckoned with in 2008, winning the Iowa Caucuses and five Super Tuesday primaries before conceding the GOP presidential nomination to Sen. John McCain

But Beyonce has been to the White House numerous times with Jay-Z and remains close to the Obamas. She was the star attraction at the first lady's 50th birthday party a year ago, and the A-listers hosted a fundraiser for the president in 2012.

In a December 2013 People Magazine interview, the president said that both of his daughters have 'gotten to know Beyonce, and she has always been very sweet to them.'

He told Glamour magazine in a softball 2012 interview that he and the first lady 'don't constrain' the music elder daughter Malia listens to. 'We expect her to show some good judgment.'

'We actually share tastes in hip-hop and rap music,' the president added, 'but we don’t listen to it together, because some of the language in there would embarrass me – at least while I’m listening to it with her.'

'Folks like Jay-Z, Nas, we both like them, but when it comes on and I’m sitting with her and Sasha, then I fast-forward because it would make me blush.'

Huckabee pounces.

'Oh. I see. The important thing is for him not to be embarrassed,' he snarks in the book.

'It's no small wonder why the culture has become so crude when fathers and mothers allow and even encourage their children to devour vulgar, misogynistic, and violent material when it's performed by "cool" people like Jay-Z and Beyonce.'

'With the first lady so concerned about making sure her daughters' bellies don't ingest unhealthy food, how can she let their brains ingest obnoxious and toxic mental poison in the form of song lyrics? If lived out, those lyrics would be far more devastating to someone's health than a cupcake.'

RAP FAN? An image apparently showing Malia Obama, 16, wearing a t-shirt for hip hop collective Pro Era was shared on Instagram by the group, which claimed a 'mutual friend' gave them the image

SULTRY: Huckabee writes that Beyonce 'doesn't need to lower herself to this type of crude exploitation to be a megastar'

Malia attracted attention this month when the hip-hop collective Pro Era posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to be wearing a $40 t-shirt emblazoned with their logo.

The first daughter's picture was shared online just days after one of Pro Era's founding members was arrested for breaking a security guard's nose at a concert in Australia. The White House is investigating how the photo of the elder Obama daughter found its way to the group.

Huckabee signed off from his eponymous Fox news show on January 3, announcing that it would be the last episode.

He is expected to make a final decision about whether or not to join the presidential race in the coming months.

His first stop will be in the state where he first cruised to victory eight years ago: Huckabee is scheduled to speak at the Iowa Freedom Summit on January 23.

'God, Guns, Grits and Gravy' also includes a chapter about the indignities of airport searches at the hands of the Transportation Security Administration – titled 'Bend Over and Take it Like a Prisoner!'

'Where else would I be ordered to stand still, put up my hands, and have my personal belongings taken and searched without a warrant or probable cause?' he asks, referring to his frequent commercial airline flights.

'After years of this indignity, much of the flying public thinks little of it, and they usually don't complain. They just dutifully stand there, bend over, and take it like a prisoner.'