Stevie Wonder is not impressed with Lil’ Wayne’s controversial new verse equating a sexual act to the beating (and eventual murder) of Emmett Till.
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, the legendary musician let it be known he thought the verse was distasteful. “You can’t equate that to Emmett Till,” he said. “You just cannot do that. … I think you got to have someone around you that — even if they are the same age or older — is wiser to say, ‘Yo, that’s not happening. Don’t do that.'”
On a remix to rapper Future’s song “Karate Chop,” Wayne boasts that he’ll “Beat that p–sy up like Emmett Till,” referencing Till’s brutal beating for allegedly whistling at a White woman in 1955. Future’s record label has apologized to Till’s relatives and promised to pull the verse. Wayne has not.
Wonder, a fan and friend of the 30-year-old Grammy winner, say he hopes Wayne will have more compassion the next time he pens a song. “Sometimes people have to put themselves in the place of people who they are talking about,” he said. “Imagine if that happened to your mother, brother, daughter or your son. How would you feel? Have some discernment before we say certain things. That goes for me or any other (song)writer.”