Producer and educator 9th Wonder threw himself into a Twitter firestorm after he seemingly defended Lil Wayne‘s recent comments regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. The North Carolina native has been holding court on his Twitter feed after making an initial comment about Wayne’s comments, sparking a furious debate over how Black music is represented and supported today.
“I’m lost. Everybody mad at Lil Wayne for his interview…but when an rapper talks black empowerment in their raps..y’all don’t like it,” tweeted 9th Wonder in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Twitter users replied in rapid succession that artists like Kendrick Lamar and the like have been largely embraced by Black fans, but 9th was quick to suggest that most people who supported K-Dot’s work were not Black.
One user fired back asking if Wayne’s comments bothered 9th, to which he agreed they did. Another user took umbrage with 9th’s stances, asking why isn’t he holding Wayne to task instead of turning it on Black fans of Hip-Hop. 9th replied, “They choose when it’s time be upset about the absence of blackness from rappers, when it’s convenient.”
Trying to make sense of 9th’s statements has proven to be difficult although it appears he’s riding both sides of the fence. On one hand, it seems as if he’s saying that Wayne’s comments shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone as he’s touted this negative image for years under the guise of a musician. On the other, 9th feels that fans are being over the top in their outrage and haven’t supported Black Power messages in music to the degree they claim.
9th Wonder did attempt to clear up his statement but admitted to his former Little Brother partner Big Pooh that it was all a ruse to get people talking. We don’t need to remind 9th that there are far easier ways to get folks to have a necessary discussion without trolling them into oblivion.
We’ve collected some of the chatter below and on the following pages. What do you think? Is 9th trolling for the heck of it or is he making a larger point? Sound off in the comments.
https://twitter.com/9thwonder/status/793688767299194880
https://twitter.com/9thwonder/status/793696482293579776
https://twitter.com/9thwonder/status/793699229034242052
https://twitter.com/9thwonder/status/793816225734418432
https://twitter.com/9thwonder/status/793818177574666240
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Photo: Instagram
