Any words for the Emmett Till/Lil Wayne Controversy ?

[MissAnne]

On the unofficial release of Future's "Karate Chop(remix)," Lil Wayne pushed the envelope too far, drawing waves of criticism for a controversial reference to Emmett Till. The provocative verse almost immediately got a response from Till's cousin Airickca Gordon-Taylor, who even penned an open letter to Weezy this week, airing out her concerns.

Here is the lyric:

'Beat that p----y up like Emmett Till,'

I KNOW

Here is an open letter from the Till family:

“When you spit lyrics like, 'Beat that p----y up like Emmett Till,' not only are you destroying the preservation and legacy of Emmett Till’s memory and name, but the impact of his murder in black history along with degradation of women.” She continued on, appealing to Lil’ Wayne not as a celebrity, but as a father himself saying, “ How would you feel if your child was beaten beyond recognition, body mutilated and disfigured, tortured for hours, unnecessarily shot after being BEATEN TO DEATH...”

For those of you who do not know who Emmett Till is:



Warning if you google him, you may find some very disturbing photos.

Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi on August 24, 1955 when he reportedly flirted with a white cashier at a grocery store. Four days later, two white men kidnapped Till, beat him, and shot him in the head. The men were tried for murder, but an all-white, male jury acquitted them. Till's murder and open casket funeral galvanized the emerging civil rights movement.

The two men beat the teenager brutally, dragged him to the bank of the Tallahatchie River, shot him in the head, tied him with barbed wire to a large metal fan and shoved his mutilated body into the water.

I can actually say that Im surprised by this lyric. Its disgusting and Lil' Wayne should be ashamed of himself. No respect for the past.

[MissAnne]

I really wish that the mods hadn't moved this to the Entertainment section.

I know that it has Lil' Wayne in it but its really not about Entertainment.

[MoufOfKhaos]

I had no words because I make it a rule not to pay attention to anything that Lil Wayne has done since he donned skinny jeans and tried to go skater-hipster "punk" in order to appease the new generation of followers and so-called neo-hipster rap(whereas the originators of "hipster" rap would be De La Soul, the new class[Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B., Kid Cudi, and in some respects Tyler The Creator, his crew and imitators] are a mixed bag).

Now that I've seen the lyric, i'm expecting his fans to forgive, forget, and wave it off as "just Lil Wayne being Lil Wayne", him to either offer a bullshit excuse, a half-hearted apology or a REAL apology, and for anti-rap fans to "march", by which I mean pen angry letters on his and their own facebooks and google + accounts while listening to 6 foot, 7 foot for the 400th time quietly in their rooms.

It's not much ado about nothing - in fact, it's low, even for a Muppet like Lil Wayne. But people will treat it as such... and that's all the more scary.

And I too, wonder why this was moved to Entertainment - I'd think if talk about Beyonce at the Super Bowl is relevant to be a Hot Topic, that debate over a highly charged and controversial lyric could be as well.

[EvilTwinTwo]

I really wish that the mods hadn't moved this to the Entertainment section.

I know that it has Lil' Wayne in it but its really not about Entertainment.

Report it. Ask them to move it back. I just did it for you.

[nycguydowntown]

really disgusting---dumb and fucked up on so many levels.

[MissAnne]

Maybe I put it in the Entertainment section and didn't notice. Hmmm

[DigitalFudge]

I've been bopping to "Love Me" for weeks now and had no idea. I kept asking myself wtf that line meant because it didn't make sense to me.



Not with me funding this mess

[Huntneo(PT)]

I just saw this. And wow...I can't believe he went there.

I usually expect all kinds of mess to come out of "rappers" mouths, but this is taking it too far. So disrespectful in so many ways. I just can't...
The family's open letter on the matter is an understatement at the level of disrespect shown here. I've never cared for Lil' Wayne much, but I have no use for him at all now.

Seriously?

[Sha-Rok]

I took all his music out of my iPod.

[MissAnne]

I just saw this. And wow...I can't believe he went there.

I usually expect all kinds of mess to come out of "rappers" mouths, but this is taking it too far. So disrespectful in so many ways. I just can't...
The family's open letter on the matter is an understatement at the level of disrespect shown here. I've never cared for Lil' Wayne much, but I have no use for him at all now.

Seriously?

I know!

I really dont know what the hell he was thinking.

[FlimFlam]

No offense to any fans. But the guy is a no-talented disgusting hack.

But it won't make a difference bc 99% of his listeners have no idea who emmit till is and probably couldn't care less.

[refujiunderground]

no surprise because lil wayne is a known disrespectful, self absorbed jackass just like the rest of his proteges like drake and disney menage-a-tois.

[G-Lexington]

Odds that there's a claim he used the lyric to "bring attention to a forgotten historical figure"?

Lex

[xbuzzerx]

I just saw this. And wow...I can't believe he went there.

I usually expect all kinds of mess to come out of "rappers" mouths, but this is taking it too far. So disrespectful in so many ways. I just can't...
The family's open letter on the matter is an understatement at the level of disrespect shown here. I've never cared for Lil' Wayne much, but I have no use for him at all now.

Seriously?

This is pretty disgusting. At the same time, I'd probably be equally horrified at how many people today likely don't know who Emmett Till was or what he signified.

[RaKroma]

LiL Wayne is lucky that he isn't a white rapper; his career would be sealed and over! Tomorrow there will be a press conference with an apology, an appearance at NAACP, some donation to a black charity and things will be back to business again with garbage music that promotes no value to community and society in general. I'm not shocked at how ignorant "artists" like him can be, but even for ignorant "artists," there should be boundaries. How low can one go?

[Hellax24]

I just saw this. And wow...I can't believe he went there.

I usually expect all kinds of mess to come out of "rappers" mouths, but this is taking it too far. So disrespectful in so many ways. I just can't...
The family's open letter on the matter is an understatement at the level of disrespect shown here. I've never cared for Lil' Wayne much, but I have no use for him at all now.

Seriously?

Agreed. Never been a fan. Classless, Ignorant, fucking waste of space.

CXXX

[kayman23]

LiL Wayne is lucky that he isn't a white rapper; his career would be sealed and over! Tomorrow there will be a press conference with an apology, an appearance at NAACP, some donation to a black charity and things will be back to business again with garbage music that promotes no value to community and society in general. I'm not shocked at how ignorant "artists" like him can be, but even for ignorant "artists," there should be boundaries. How low can one go?

Not exactly...Eminem went there about Michael Jackson and NAACP, Jesse Jackson, and the whole show complained about him in 2007. In the end, Eminem didn't do shit afterwards although there was an uproar.

It wouldn't matter what race Lil Wayne would be because people really don't know history anymore nor do they respect anything of cultural significance.

I'm just going to leave it be about hip-hop in general because that is your opinion, and I don't agree about that one at all...

[MissAnne]

Not exactly...Eminem went there about Michael Jackson and NAACP, Jesse Jackson, and the whole show complained about him in 2007. In the end, Eminem didn't do shit afterwards although there was an uproar.

..

True, Ive heard Eminem say some horrible things about Black women. People dont really care too much

[xbuzzerx]

True, Ive heard Eminem say some horrible things about Black women. People dont really care too much

But, but! If a white person said it they'd be judged way harsher!

*crickets chirp*

[FlimFlam]

C'mon you all know eminen is really black :-P

Seriously though, ignorant is ignorant no matter what race