Lil Wayne Under Fire for Emmett Till Lyrics

0
  • Lil Wayne
    (Photo: Danny Moloshok / Reuters)
    Lil Wayne poses on arrival at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles
By Christine Thomasos , Christian Post Reporter
February 15, 2013|4:55 pm

Lil Wayne is under fire after his lyrics to a remixed version of rapper Future's "Karate Chop" featured some sexual references referring to the death of Emmett Till.

"Bout to put rims on my skateboard wheels/Beat that (expletive) up like Emmett Till," Wayne rapped on the song.

Till, a black teenager, was killed in 1955 after allegedly whistling at a white woman, which sparked racial tension in the United States. After the "Karate Chop" lyrics were leaked by Lil Wayne, the 30-year-old rapper born Dewayne Carter, Till's family called for an apology.

Airickca Gordon-Taylor, Till's cousin, spoke out about the rapper's lyrics that were deemed insensitive by many.

"It was a heinous murder. He was brutally beaten and tortured, and he was shot, wrapped in barbed wire and tossed in the Tallahatchie River. The images that we're fortunate to have (of his open casket) that 'Jet' published, they demonstrate the ugliness of racism," Gordon-Taylor said in a New York Daily News report.

"So to compare a woman's anatomy - the gateway of life - to the ugly face of death, it just destroyed me. And then I had to call the elders in my family and explain to them before they heard it from some another source," she continued.

Follow us

However, Taylor was not the only person to speak out about the rapper's lyrics. Stevie Wonder, the famous singer-songwriter who calls himself Wayne's friend, said he did not agree with the rapper's choice to include Till in his lyrics.

"Sometimes people have to put themselves in the place of people who they are talking about. Imagine if that happened to your mother, brother, daughter or your son." said 60-year-old Wonder in a Fox News report. "How would you feel? Have some discernment before we say certain things. That goes for me or any other (song)writer."

Epic Records took responsibility for the release of the rapper's remix and said it would work to have those lyrics taken out, according to the Daily News. Epic Chairman and CEO LA Reid also reached out to Gordon-Taylor and offered an apology for the song's lyrics.

Advertisement
Top Stories

'Obamacare' Costs Would Rise Even Higher With Labor Union 'Fix'

Labor union leaders are complaining they are ...

Oklahoma Woman Finds Dog Buried Alive After Tornado During CBS Interview

"Thank you, God," Barbara Garcia whispered repeatedly as she tried lifting the bits of wreckage covering her precious pet and companion who she thought had been lost after a powerful tornado ripped through parts of Oklahoma ...

Greg Laurie: 4 Words That Can Change Your Marriage

Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Church in Southern ...

Christian Leaders Ask Boy Scouts to Keep Current Policy on Gay Scouts

A statement signed by 48 Christian leaders asks ...

Former US Secretary of Education: Is College Worth It?

With the cost of higher education skyrocketing, ...