| Lil' Wayne causes another controversy again! |
Epic Records didn't expect a controversy! Today many civil rights activists are upset over a verse rapped by the nation's most popular rapper Lil' Wayne.
Lil' Wayne appears on Atlanta based rapper Future's single Karate Chop. The Atlanta based rapper is become a mainstream fixture and his sophomore album Future Hendrix is coming soon. The rapper debuted his album Pluto last year. I am guessing that Future didn't expect his single to be that controversial.
| Atlanta based rapper Future is becoming a mainstream fixture. |
In regards to slain teenager Emmett Till and comparisons to the female anatomy, many entertainers and civil rights leaders demanding an apology from the rapper.
Lil' Wayne embraces guns, sexism, and commercialism.
He along with other rappers, rocker Ted Nugent, the NRA and many other politicos in Washington are under fire for embracing the gun culture. Since the tragedy at Sandy Hook, every event that involves firearms or entertainers/agitators defending violence will be scrutinized by the mainstream media.
Lil' Wayne is the most sought after rapper in hip-hop. With that title comes the scrutiny!
According to Associated Press, Epic Records has responded to the backlash. After the Rev. Jesse Jackson reached out to Lil' Wayne's management The Blueprint Group on the family's behalf, the label has released a statement claiming that the remix was "unauthorized" and that it leaked online. The label promised to make efforts to erase the track from the web, stating that an official version of the song will be released at a later time that "will not include such references."
"We regret the unauthorized remix version of Future's 'Karate Chop,' which was leaked online and contained hurtful lyrics," the statement said. "Out of respect for the legacy of Emmett Till and his family and the support of the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. ... we are going through great efforts to take down the unauthorized version."
Additionally, a Facebook posting on the Mamie Till Mobley Memorial Foundation last night said that Epic Records Chairman and CEO LA Reid personally reached out to apologize.
After learning of the reference on the song, Airickca Gordon-Taylor, the founding director of the Foundation and cousin of Emmett Till, spoke out on behalf of the family and branded the reference "disrespectful." "We found it dishonorable to his name and what his death has meant to us as a people and as a culture," said Gordon-Taylor. "It was offensive not only to us, but to our ancestors and to women and to themselves as young, black men. I just couldn’t understand how you could compare the gateway of life to the brutality and punishment of death. And I feel as though they have no pride and no dignity as black men.”
Till was killed in 1955 while visiting his family in Mississippi. He was beaten severely and shot in the head before his attackers tied a cotton gin to his body with barbed wire and threw him into the Tallahatchie River.
Two white men were acquitted of the killing by an all-white jury.
Stevie Wonder was even agitated by the verse.
| Stevie Wonder was upset over Lil' Wayne and Future's single. |
"You can't equate that to Emmett Till," Wonder said. "You just cannot do that. ... I think you got to have someone around you that – even if they are the same age or older – is wiser to say, `Yo, that's not happening. Don't do that.'"
Wonder, who says he is a fan and friend of Lil Wayne, made the comments when asked what he thought of Lil Wayne's controversial lyrics in an interview Thursday.
Wonder, 62, hopes the 30-year-old Grammy winner understands the perspective of the Till family and chooses his words wisely in the future.
"Sometimes people have to put themselves in the place of people who they are talking about," Wonder said. "Imagine if that happened to your mother, brother, daughter or your son. How would you feel? Have some discernment before we say certain things. That goes for me or any other (song)writer."
Lil' Wayne appears on Cash Money Records.
Stevie Wonder appears on Motown Records/Island Def Jam Music Group.
Future appears on A1/Freebandz/Epic Records.
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