(Todd A. Smith)
Houston emcee Devin the Dude once rapped, “When you’re F-ing over your fa sho p****, tryin’ to get some mo p****, you’ll end up with no p****.
While Devin rapped about women in the song “Fa Sho,” the same logic applies to all areas of life.
Rappers Snoop Dogg, Nelly, Rick Ross and Soulja Boy recently performed at events surrounding the second inauguration of President Donald Trump and quickly found out that upsetting their core fanbase to appeal to non-fans is not always a winning combination.
Newsweek reported, “The performances mark a significant shift, particularly for Snoop Dogg, who previously criticized Trump and his MAGA supporters…
“The Crypto Ball, hosted by incoming White House A.I. and ‘Crypto Czar’ David Sacks, took place at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. on Friday night, with tickets ranging from $2,500 to $5,000…
“The event drew other notable guests including fellow rapper Rick Ross and UFC star Colby Covington.”
Nelly performed at the official inaugural ball on Monday.
Despite the money made performing for the polarizing and divisive president, the rappers may ultimately lose more money in the long run if their fans make good on boycotting and canceling them for supporting a president who has always been an antagonist to the Black community.
While many inside, and outside, of the community have criticized Black Americans for vowing to cancel some of their favorite rappers for aligning with Trump, what many Black Americans are doing is not unique to them.
When popular country music band the Dixie Chicks made controversial comments about former President George W. Bush, they were almost immediately canceled.
Country music radio stations removed their songs from rotation.
True fans stopped buying their albums.
More importantly, real fans of the Dixie Chicks stopped going to their concerts.
Many Democrats came to the Dixie Chicks’ rescue by purchasing their albums.
However, musicians make the bulk of their money from touring, merchandising and music publishing if they write and produce the songs.
Therefore, the loss of the radio and concert revenue had to hurt their pocketbooks.
While I agreed with the Dixie Chicks’ criticism of former President Bush at the time, I was never a fan or a supporter of their music.
Therefore, my support of their political stance did not benefit them at all.
Country music has a very conservative and White fanbase.
As a result, if an artist upsets their core fanbase, they might find themselves up a creek without a paddle.
To Snoop, Nelly, Ricky Ross and Soulja Boy’s advantage is that hip-hop has become so universal, that their fanbase might be more diverse.
However, Black artists should never forget those who supported them before they crossed over to the pop charts.
When Snoop Dogg was demonized by the mainstream press in the early 1990s for an alleged murder he was acquitted for, it was mainly young Black kids who stayed supportive.
Snoop’s music spoke to the inner city.
It spoke to the struggles that many young Black males experienced growing up in marginalized and impoverished areas like on Dr. Dre’s “Lil Ghetto Boy.”
His early songs like Dr. Dre’s “The Day the N***** Took Over.” spoke about the Los Angeles riots after the brutal beating of motorist Rodney King by rogue members of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Many rappers of the 1980s and 1990s like Public Enemy and Geto Boys often spoke against the system and for the marginalized, despite many songs with negative messages and imagery.
But since hip-hop has gone global, many rappers have forgotten their past and the mission of hip-hop.
Early rappers never envisioned rap as a means to sell products or to sell their soul to an evil politician.
They envisioned hip-hop as a means of expression for those that society had cast aside and forgotten.
Now, many rappers have forgotten about the people who they once spoke out for.
In 2025, everything is about making a dollar, even if that means making a deal with the devil.
While Snoop and others are free to perform for whomever they want to, their fans are also free to choose whether they support them financially going forward.
If performers can choose how to make their money, fans can also choose how to spend their money.
On the YouTube channel B High TV, Rapper and popular podcaster Wicked from the group Ghetto Mafia said that Black Americans should stop looking for salvation from entertainers and other races.
But I do not think that is the issue at all.
Black people are not looking for a hero.
They are looking for people with influence and huge platforms to speak up for them when they cannot speak up for themselves.
Wealthy and elite Black Americans have access to decision-making that regular Black people do not have.
And many just hope that the few Black people who have access to decision-making meetings, make decisions that make life easier for them.
Instead, Black America often gets Black entertainers willing to get used for optics rather than those who use their influence to provide better opportunities for their people.
People like Trump use Black people like Snoop to not appear racist, making it easier to enact racist laws and regulations like eliminating affirmative action, eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs, eliminating books by Black authors and eliminating history that shows the true plight of our ancestors.
Politicians like Trump would rather see Black people talking about selling drugs and killing each other than engage with real Black leaders who want to end systemic racism and White supremacy.
That should come as no surprise.
What is a surprise is that so many of our own legends are so willing to assist them in doing so.
But by doing so, they might have alienated their “fa sho” fans for people who have no real interest or love for them.
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- Halle Bailey, Stephanie Mills Parallel: ‘Anti- Wokeness’ Nothing New for Bigots
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- Great to See Rappers Hold Lil Nas X Accountable for Blasphemous Depiction of Jesus
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- Salute to Queen Taraji P. Henson for Highlighting Project 2025, Waking Up Sleeping Giant
- Tyrese, Gus Walz Display Real, Raw Manhood Despite Criticism
- No Pharrell Williams, Celebs Shouldn’t Stay Out of Politics
- Janet Jackson’s Out of Rhythm (Nation) Take on Kamala Harris’ Race Major Disappointment
- Opinion
- Entertainers and Social Issues
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- Dear Brittney Griner Haters, Hope You Had Harsher Criticism for Audrey Lorber
- Little League Cotton Controversy: Rewriting American History Will Lead to Worse Than Bad Optics from Next Generation
- Brett Favre Just Bad Guy and Welfare King, Not Hero
- When Does It End? Glorification of Violence, Drugs in Black Community Must Cease
- White H.S. QB Marcus Stokes Losing Scholarship for Rapping N-Word is Cancel Culture Gone Way Too Far