YG made one of the most important protest songs of all time 10 years ago. “FDT” was extremely timely and would eventually soundtrack every protest during President Donald Trump’s first term. However, it seems like not much has changed in the last decade. Trump is currently serving his second term in office, making YG’s collaboration with Nipsey Hussle still feel pretty timely. Since the social environment is practically the same and people loved it the first time, would he ever make a sequel?
Based on the severe backlash he received the first time, he’s extremely reluctant to go for round two against the president. In an interview on Big Boy’s Neighborhood promoting his latest album, The Gentleman’s Club, YG acknowledged how people have been impacted by Trump’s second term. With the ICE raids and other political issues, he certainly understands why “FDT” still resonates with people. But he admits to having too much on his plate to want those problems again.
“A lot of people be asking me that like, ‘Bro, is you going to do part two?’” the Compton MC said. “I’m like, ‘Listen, man. I got a lot of street s**t going on, I got a lot of other s**t going on. I don’t want no smoke with them people.’”
YG Declines The Idea of Making a Sequel to “FDT” After His Run-In With the Secret Service
Then, the My Krazy Life rapper recalled getting a letter from the White House personally over the original “FDT”. Their backlash caused a lot of concerts to reject him from playing the political anthem. Moreover, there were a number of times when concert promoters would tell him that he couldn’t perform the song, especially if he wanted to get paid that night.
“I still be going through that. When I’m doing certain shows they be like, ‘We want him but he can’t do ‘FDT.’ My team was like, ‘Yeah, bro, just to let you know it’s in the contract you can’t do ‘F**k Donald Trump’” YG told Big Boy. “If you do ‘F**k Donald Trump’, they ain’t got to pay you.’”
At the time, the Secret Service actually threatened to take it a step further and censor YG’s album outright. When talking with TMZ at the time, he explained how the government wanted eyes on the lyrics to his album before he was able to release it.
“They asked to see the lyrics of my album to see if I’m talking about him on my album because if I talk about him on my album, they’re gonna take it off the shelves,” YG said at the time. “We trying to touch the people. We’re trying to motivate, get all the young people to vote, really take your time out and vote on who should be in office ’cause it’s important. If not, it could be all bad for us.”
The post After a Tense Run-In With This Federal Agency, YG Has No Plans of Recording a Sequel to This Iconic and Divisive Song appeared first on VICE.
