Lil Yachty has caught flak on social media for a song lyric that uses George Floyd‘s name in an offensive way.
Stephen Jackson took to social media on Thursday night to call the rapper out directly, explaining that it was wrong to use the deceased Floyd’s name in that way in the unreleased song snippet.
“Lil Yachty, bro. You been wack, my n***a,” Jackson, who grew up with Floyd in Houston’s Third Ward, said. “But you think you saying George Floyd name, and trying to use his name in a bar, that’s gonna make people like your wack-ass music, my n***a? That shit weak. Y’all the only era that feel like demeaning the dead and saying that shit is cool, my n***a. It ain’t.
The All the Smoke podcast co-host added: “Don’t ever say his name, bro. None of ya’ll knew G, nothing about him. But y’all wanna say his name for clout. That’s some weak-ass shit, Yachty. Let somebody die in your family, we gonna do a whole skit about it. And see how funny it is, bro. Cut that shit out.”
The controversy erupted on Thursday (August 14) when Yachty appeared on Plaqueboymax’s live stream. Around the 43-minute mark, he played his upcoming track, which references Floyd, the 46-year-old Black man killed in 2020 after being pinned by Minneapolis police.
“I want them to hear me on this one,” Yachty said as the track began. Viewers then heard the line: “Put my knee up on her neck, I went George Floyd,” sparking a major reaction on social media.
Later that night, Yachty reshared a post confirming the unreleased track is from It’s Us Vol. 2, the upcoming installment of his Concrete Boys series.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after former police officer Derek Chauvin was filmed kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. Chauvin was found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 22 and a half years in state prison for Floyd’s murder. He was also hit with 21-year federal sentence on the grounds he violated Floyd’s civil rights.
