Lil Wayne ‘Emmett Till’ Reference On “Karate Chop (Remix)” Stirs Controversy

Lil Wayne’s lines have stirred quite a bit of controversy throughout the years, but the rapper’s  reference to Emmett Till on Future’s “Karate Chop (remix)” has prompted an apology from Epic Records to the Till family.

On the remix of “Karate Chop”, Lil Wayne says “beat the p—y up like Emmett Till”, which prompted a response from Emmett Till’s cousin Airickca Gordon-Taylor, who is the founding director of the Mamie Till Mobley Memorial Foundation.

“My agenda is not to be disrespectful to Lil Wayne, even as much as I feel he’s being disrespectful to my family. We just want Emmett’s name removed from that song,” said Gordon-Taylor to the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday. “That entire segment is very misogynistic and promotes domestic abuse toward women by our own race,” she added. “But it also shows total disregard ow where you’ve come from. He wouldn’t even be out there rapping these stupid lyrics without the sacrifice Emmett made. Personally, I think Lil Wayne should just go ahead and apologize to my family. It’s hurtful.”

Epic Records, the label for Future, quickly responded to the controversy and stated that they would work to have the offensive content removed from the Internet. “We regret the unauthorized remix version of Future’s ‘Karate Chop’,which was leaked online and contained hurtful lyrics,” the label said in a statement on the Associated Press. “Out of respect for the legacy of Emmett Till and his family an the support of the Revered Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. ..we are going through great efforts to take down the unauthorized version.” Epic Records stated that an official version of the remix will be re-released without the derogatory references.

Lil Wayne has not commented on the issue.

Shanika Simmons