On Oct. 29, New Orleans-born rap icon Lil Wayne announced his support for Donald Trump’s reelection campaign in a Twitter post that included a photo of himself grinning and making a thumbs-up for the camera alongside the president.
Wayne, now 38, has been a fixture in the hip-hop scene since signing to Cash Money Records at the age of 14 and joins the ranks of 50 Cent, Ice Cube and Kanye West as the latest in a string of high-profile Black (and interestingly, male) musicians to associate themselves with the oppressive regime.
The tweet was met with praise from Trump supporters and scorn from those disappointed in the rapper for selling out.
Among the Twitter backlash for Lil Wayne’s support of Trump was a series of responses from notable Chicago-based communist and rapper Noname. One reads: “Until black celebs change their love of capital, they’ll always stifle the revolutionary potential of the people. The system (capitalism) that kills working-class black folks is the same system that makes black celebs rich! They’ll never denounce capitalism.”
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