White House to respond to call to ban rap track

An online petition calling for the banning of a controversial rap track – that critics say incites criminals to target Chinese American homes – has collected more than 100,000 signatures, and so must now receive an official response from the White House.

Article by BBC Trending

Campaigners want the US government to act against “Meet The Flockers” by the west coast rapper YG, which takes the form of a guide on how to commit a burglary. They say the song acts as a “step-by-step blueprint and encourages even more criminals to target Chinese families”.

In particular they have highlighted the opening line of the song: “First, you find a house and scope it out. Find a Chinese neighbourhood, cause they don’t believe in bank accounts.”

Although the track was released in 2014, the controversy over the lyrics has flared up only in recent weeks, and has resulted in several shows on YG’s current tour being picketed by protesters.

The online petition – created by an anonymous petitioner known only as “YC” – calls on the White House to “ban the song from public media and investigate legal responsibilities of the writer [YG].”

This means the White House is now obligated to officially comment on the impact of the song within 60 days. However, it is unlikely that the song could be banned, due to the US Constitution’s First Amendment’s protecting free speech rights.

Steven Zhu, who helped organise a demonstration when YG held a concert in Philadelphia on Saturday, told BBC Trending that the campaign had helped shift attitudes about how Chinese Americans should express themselves.

“Chinese Americans need to stand out and protect our rights,” he said. “We are part of the US society and we should be active and take part in the main events, such as US election. In the past, most Chinese people held the beliefs that we would eventually return to our countries and being in the US, we are like guests and we don’t belong here. But I want people to change that concept and make ourselves to be part of the USA. ”

The song became a topic of discussion in September following the attempted robbery of Fengzhu Chen, a Chinese businesswoman in Georgia. The woman opened fire with her own handgun, and at least two armed suspects returned fire.One suspect was killed in the exchange. The woman was not charged. Security camera footage of the incident went viral on on Weibo and WeChat as well as discussions that YG’s song glorified the targeting Chinese-American homes.

YG – who has himself served time in prison for burglary – has not commented on the recent furore over “Meet The Flockers”. However, in 2014 he told FM magazine in that he wrote the song in order to “share the experience (of breaking into houses) with the people, because that’s a part of the culture. Especially where I’m from, in L.A., the west coast, that’s a big part of the culture of a teenager or someone in their mid-20s, that’s what they doin’, they breaking into houses. That’s what I did.”

BBC Trending has approached YG for comment via his record label Def Jam Recordings.

Read more at: bbc.com