In a recent interview with ABC's "Nightline", New Orleans rapper Lil' Wayne distanced himself from the anti-police brutality movement "Black Lives Matter".
In this video clip above, Lil' Wayne states that his life matters and tells the interviewer "I don't know what you mean". My response to this is that I'm not surprised a bit. I'm not surprised when any celebrity makes anti-Black statements. In Lil' Wayne's case, he's been making anti-Black, anti-woman music for years. A significant amount of his music and lyrical content embraces these topics. How many times, how many ways, and in how many songs does someone have to tell you they hate Black people for you to get it? All the while we continue to support them (I know it's hard, music is a hypnotic and spiritual tool). I mean, that line about the late Emmett Till was made by him just a few years ago. Are we that numb to anti-Blackness in music that it's become normal? Honestly, I think so.
I understand that many rappers have come from poverty and utilize the music industry to make a living for themselves, but how many people (youth in particular) are they contributing in spiritually destroying in the process with their music? Especially hence the fact that after a few successful albums, these entertainers aren't living in the "hood" or scratching and surviving.
This statement by Lil' Wayne is a reflection of the internalized self-hatred of many Black people worldwide. Whenever you are unable to empathize with people who look like you, who have supported you throughout your career, you are apart of the problem. I don't know how many times many of these celebrities have to tell us through songs that they don't care about us until we get it. I'm sure the Weezy stans will be making excuses such as "he's high", but high or not, Lil' Wayne has told us how he feels about Black people thousands of songs ago.
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