Rapper under fire for song lyrics encouraging robberies against Chinese Americans
SILVER SPRING, Md. - Music fans and protesters both gathered at The Fillmore in Silver Spring Wednesday night. The fans were there to see rapper YG perform inside the concert venue while the protesters were outside to denounce some of the rapper's lyrics.
The controversial lyrics come in the song "Meet The Flockers" that was released two years ago and the protesters are arguing that they are a step-by-step guide to street violence that seem to be directed against the Chinese American community.
The lyrics in the song say in part:
First, you find a house and scope it out
Find a Chinese neighborhood, cause they don't believe in bank accounts
Second, you find a crew and a driver, someone ring the doorbell
And someone that ain't scared to do what it do
Third, you pull up at the spot
Park, watch, ring the doorbell and knock
Four, make sure nobody is home
They gone, okay it's on
As YG performed before a sold-out crowd inside, the New Civil Rights Alliance demanded the California rapper apologize to their community.
"We are asking YG to apologize, to provide entertainment in a different format and change the lyrics," said Cliff Li, secretary general for the New Civil Rights Alliance.
To some, YG's lyrics are just music.
"If they are thinking that people are robbing them because of that, I personally don't believe that because I don't think people listen to a lyric that much and really say, "Oh, I'm going to really do what he said,'" said a concertgoer.
"I think people in general should diversify what they listen to when they listen to rap music as well as YG," said another YG fan. "He talks about a lot of other things."
But the group said the song led to a home invasion incident last month at a Chinese-American woman's house in the suburbs of Atlanta. Three armed men broke into the home, but what they didn't expect was the homeowner to be armed as well. She shot one of the men who later died on her driveway.
FOX 5 reached out to YG and his managers for comment, but have not heard back as of Wednesday night.