Epic Records Pulls Song With Lil Wayne's Offensive Emmett Till Reference

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 14, 2013 5:00PM

Epic Records is apologizing and working overtime to remove every version it can find of a song by rapper Future that features a lyric by hip-hop superstar Lil Wayne that name drops Civil Rights icon Emmett Till in a vulgar manner.

The song, “Karate Chop,” features this lyric from Weezy:

Pop a lot of pain pills Bout to put rims on my skateboard wheels Beat that pussy up like Emmett Till

Till, a Chicago teen, was savagely beaten to death, shot in the head and his body dumped in a river in Mississippi in 1955 by a group of white men for allegedly whistling at a white woman. His face was so disfigured by the beating that his mother, Mamie Till Mobley, insisted on having an open casket funeral so that people could see what happened to him. His death became an watershed moment in the early days of the Civil Rights movement.

The lyric by Lil Wayne drew criticism from Airickca Gordon-Taylor, founder of the Mamie Till Mobley Memorial Foundation and a cousin of Till. Gordon-Taylor said the song “shows total disregard of where you’ve come from” and the lyric itself " is very misogynistic and promotes domestic abuse toward women by our own race.”

“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 CEO L.A. Reid, under pressure from the foundation and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, released a statement apologizing for the song and claimed it was leaked online without a listen from the label.

"Out of respect for the legacy of Emmett Till and his family and the support of the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. ... we are going through great efforts to take down the unauthorized version."