As far as rap circles go, Yelawolf has enjoyed some moderate success working with Eminem and Shady Records. The guy isn’t a household name, but he’s been kicking up dirt as a “redneck rapper“ for several years. He embraces the image, and even his Twitter profile description reads, “Alien Redneck Mastermind.” Much like Kid Rock, Yelawolf loves to embrace Southern pride, states’ rights, and the Confederate flag. He went on a gigantic rant this week when he spotted an anti-Confederate flag shirt on the Babylon shop website.
Here’s the shirt, which shows the flag burning, and Yelawolf’s indignant caption. He listed examples of black Southern rappers who have embraced the “Bars & Stars” before ripping into the anti-Confederate flag crowd.
Ain’t no way I’m letting some ones ignorance tear me from my roots .. you f***ing f*** boys can save it with this anti Dixie SH*T !! .. You media succubus in fashion and news are taking full advantage of yourself’s business .. Not knowing at all the damage you’re creating by giving a false impression of who we are in the South .. We’re GOOD PEOPLE !!! .. We love our small towns and we love our folks .. For me and me only I’ll tell you like this … Rip DIME BAG DARRELL !! and Long live PANTERA !! .. Long live Lynyrd Skynyrd !!… Long Live Dukes of Hazard . .And mother F***ER … The DIXIE WILL NEVER DIE !! … Do you want Me to mention my black inspirations on the Dixie side .. like Big Gipp who I saw in a full Dixie Flag outfit at Madison Square Garden in 05 ? , or Andre 3000 rocking a Dixie Flag Belt buckle in ” Sorry ms Jackson ? ” , maybe little Jhon or Pastor Troy who rocked the Dixie Flag in a protest against ignorance ? … I saw the GROWTH and the POWER !! NOT THE DEMISE !!! And here we have these f***ing yuppies from the west coast and world wide jumping on this band wagon .. Who know NOTHING ABOUT US .. Other than the movies and misrepresented news reels they see .. Lied too at school and at home .. Further deepening the injury of social perception .. With this wack as** image of a burning Dixie Flag …. F*** that !! … Well I can tell you that a #slumerican will never support you .. We’re beyond you all .. More open and way more prepared than you are ⚡️⚡️🇺🇸⚡️⚡️DIXIE !!! @savetheconfederateflag #slumerican
“Long live PANTERA !!” is hilarious. Yelawolf also posted a photo of Andre 3000 with a quote that reads, “I wear the belt for southern pride and to rebel … I don’t take the confederate flag that serious as far as the racial part is concerned.”
Sigh. Yelawolf and his buddies defend the Confederate flag in terms of embracing their culture. Their enthusiasm for states’ rights is inseparable with how those states defended the right to own slaves. There’s no talking any sense into people like this, although I take a small comfort in knowing they embrace a symbol that should remind them they lost the dang Civil War. Ah well.
Someone else can deal with Yelawolf’s ignorance better than I can. That person is Talib Kweli Greene, who points out the irony in Yelawolf’s status as a guy who build his career on “music invented by black people. Have respect.” Yes.
@yelawolf dude. No. You're better than this. You got famous doing music invented by black people. Have respect. It's hate. Not heritage.
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) August 25, 2015
Photos courtesy of WENN
Oh dear, I only know this guys name because of a song featured in Sons of Anarchy.
I have to say Talib Kweli Greene’s response is pretty perfect. Not angry, respectful and to the point.
Talib Kweli is a friggin hiphop living legend, that he bothered to do more than call a fool a fool is amazing. Lets see if this idjut youngin is impudent enough to snap back.
It amazes me that there are this many ignorant idiots that get jobs writing articles like this and all the sheep that completely agree with no real knowledge of the Conferderate flag. Yelawolf is the least racist oerson you could find. But you dont care because you didnt read that on the internet. Judging him on one comment is just as bad as judging ANY flag on one thing it was connected with. The American flag represents unbelievably worse and unforgivable things. Keep watching the news and dont worry ab9ut checking if any of it is true.
Read the history of the Confederate flag. It is evil. Unfortunately ignorance is the only reason why people support confederate flag. I’ve read it described as America’s version of the Swastika and I think that is a pretty accurate description. If people study the history of the flag, they would never support it.
Reeely @history? This “oerson” defines racism because he can’t bother to learn the facts. Ignorance =racism.
I live in the South (same area as the Duggars) and I see confederate flags daily. Hanging out of pick-up trucks and motorcycles, etc. I just told my husband the other day that I wanted to buy a big ‘ole confederate flag and stand on the street corner and burn it. Of course I won’t actually do that because I don’t want to get beat up but I dream about it daily.
I feel you. I live in the South too – South Carolina – and I HATE the Confederate flag. We aren’t all a part of the problem!
I have a question. I’m not entirely clear on what the people clinging to that flag are actually clinging to. As Bedhead mentioned, the South lost the Civil War. So it’s definitely not a symbol of victory. Or freedom (at least not for black people). Or unity. I honestly don’t understand what they mean by heritage or tradition. Doesn’t it represent the losing side of history? So … they wish the South had won and continued to own slaves? Someone help me out, I do know the basics of American history but this is confounding.
I think that’s kind of the point for the anti-Confederate flag crowd. All of the excuses or reasons pro-Confed people give as to why the flag is “not a symbol of hate” is so weak. It really is just about white pride – oops, i mean Southern pride.
Another Southerner here. They are clinging to a past that never existed. And they are ignorant and/or stupid. They will tell you that “states rights” was/is about economic rights. They totally ignore the fact that the “economic right” that was at the core of the Articles of Secession was the right to own other human beings.
Don’t try to understand it. It makes no sense.
Got it. I’ve heard the “states rights” thing a few times but again, it’s never really explained, probably because they don’t have to explain it to Americans and the rest of the world is only mildly interested in the flag debate as opposed to the larger issue. Or our own crappy problems for that matter.
It IS baffling, isn’t it. But yes, they do wish the South had won and that they could continue to own slaves. They blame their own ignorance, ill health and impoverishment on the legal impossibility of owning other people, and instead try to degrade them in every other possible way.
It’s a sad statement on the warped nature of the Southern economic system that the white children of white sharecroppers continue to promote the values of the sadistic plantation owners who exploited their ancestors, too, and almost equally deprived them of educational and vocational opportunity.
First, I think you need to know that a very small percentage of Southerners actually owned slaves at the time of the Civil War. An even smaller percentage (under 5%, I think, but I’m relying on my memory) owned more than two slaves. That was for the rich landowners. So most people fighting the civil war for the South were doing so because they loved it, or often because rich people started a war and poor people fought it. It was their home, and they didn’t like what was to them, total strangers in their business. During the end of the Civil War, the North marched through the South, raping women, stealing people’s jewelry and what little food they had left and leaving them to starve, burning down their homes and killing anyone who got in their way. It was not our country’s finest moment. After the Civil War, Lincoln wanted to take the path of reconciliation, not punishment, but he was assassinated. So the South was punished for decades, and I don’t think Northerners know or recall how poor and desperate things became. They just went on their merry way and made fun of us for being hicks, or came down to the South and took advantage of people’s desperation, buying up their land and homes for rock bottom prices. Maybe you have heard the expression “The South shall rise again.” It took about 50-60 years, maybe more, for the South to come back financially, and it was done without much outside help. All of this was just a breeding ground for this culture of pride and resentment towards outsiders, and I was brought up feeling Southern really before American. (I’m 59) So I think for many people, the Confederate flag really is a symbol of pride, and sort of a f@ck you to the North, and has nothing to do with racism. This is history as I was taught it, and notice how it conveniently omits any discussion of how terribly black people were treated in the South (or, in my opinion, the U.S.) since they set their feet on the land of this country. But that’s what people mean. They are proud that they fought, and yes, they lost, and yes, it’s good that slavery was ended, but you tried your best to keep us down and we got back up anyway, so f@ck you. I honestly believe there are people my parents’ age who are bewildered by the thought that the flag is racist. (Not my parents, who are very aware of these things)
What they don’t understand is that the outside (by outside, I mean anyone who is not a white Southerner of their generation) perception became that it was a symbol of hate and racism. I think when you see a Confederate flag on a pick up truck today, it IS probably a symbol of hate and racism. And how SC thought it was ok to fly the Confederate flag over a government building has mystified me for years, when it was obviously so hurtful to so many of their citizens for so long. I think the perception has become the reality and it’s time for everyone to admit that and put the flags away. But anyone I know never had one in the first place, so I don’t have much influence. I think burning the Confederate flag is an understandable but not helpful reaction. Are you sorry you asked?
@GoodNames You explained that perfectly! Fellow southerner here (SC actually) and honestly I’ve always thought of the confederate flag as being “redneck.” I never was attached to it in any way. So, as a teenager in early 2000’s, when the original controversy about the flag flying over the statehouse became an issue, and I realized it hurt people, I immediately wanted it down. And, have wanted it off the grounds since then. (Sidenote: No idea how the compromise was made to take it down but leave it on the grounds because neither side was happy with it but anyway…) BUT, with all that said, I do know some people who are NOT racist, but own a confederate flag. To some people, it really does have NOTHING to do with race and everything to do with pride to be from the south. Nobody from up north really understands this, so usually I don’t even try to explain it.
But, as you said, the meaning has been co-opted over the years, so it’s time for it to be put away in all forms.
GNAT, I am NOT sorry I asked at all and thank you for taking the time to write all of this down! That explains a lot. It’s actually reminiscent (slightly) of a debate Germans (Europeans in general) really suck at and that’s how the German population suffered after WWII. And they did and it should have been acknowledged sooner but then on the other hand you cannot compare it to how the rest of Europe and two other continents suffered during the war. At all. That’s the problem though, many Germans felt that the rest of the world didn’t care at all for so long and now some are trying to overcompensate. I’m always torn on this issue. There is no f*ck you attitude and the Allies didn’t run over the country to burn it to the ground (we did that elsewhere), but more and more, you see this topic explored not just in academic circles but also in the media and they very rarely get the tone right. And then people start yelling. It’s understandable when you treat the “losers” horribly but let’s not lose perspective.
Yeah, I digress. But that just came to mind when I read your explanation.
I’m from the South and as a PoC I was always taught the Confederate flag was symbol of hatred and racism. Especially since the KKK adopted it as their “official” flag. I understand that there are genuinely people who don’t see it that way, but it did stand for something horrible for many years and it’s time to let that flag go.
Black woman checking in to say I hope they keep flying that flag. To paraphrase some celebrity who I now forget, I like it when the enemy announces himself. So please do wear your d*ckiness on your forehead, so I can identify you quicker and treat you accordingly.
It’s really kind of easy. It’s called the “rebel” flag. Southerners always felt denigrated by the “elitists” from the north. They were, in fact, denigrated – much as they are today – as ignorant rubes and bumpkins. For southerners, winning the war wasn’t the point. Retaining slavery wasn’t the point (only wealthy southerners owned slaves – as did many wealthy northerners. Most southerners were poor and owned no slaves). The point was standing up to the “elites”. That is a theme that has existed throughout history, starting with the Magna Carta. The Revolutionary War was much the same; the British were the elites and the colonists were considered the rubes.
He can eat a bag of Dixie
Lol!!!
Marry me, Mantis 😉
I usually can’t laugh before my morning coffee. This morning’s an exception. Well done.
Never heard of him. Seems like a tosspot.
Is redneck rapping a thing? That is truly hilarious. And is that a twitlonger or whateveritscalled? I think those should be banned for Thoroughly Missing The Point.
But: brownie points for use of “succubus”. It’s like a safe word or a wild card or somesuch to be used when you know you’re losing the argument, succubus.
@Sixer
Yeah redneck rap is a real thing. You must have been asleep during the reign of Bubba Sparxxx 15 years ago. Ok maybe not sleep sleep, more like blinked for a micro second. Its a thing.
I was definitely asleep.
It only counts if Bubba Sparxxx (love the extra Xs) called someone a succubus. I have decided these should be the rules.
Bubba Sparxxx made it over here (Germany) with one song. And that was more pop music, no? I guess there’s some rap in there although as a fan of more, shall we say, “offensive” rap and hip hop, I cannot in good conscience call it that. 😉
@Littlemissnaughty
Yeah, I’m not surprised that it was a pop song that managed to hit the charts there. But Bubba was a legit rapper, by that I mean more rap less singing gimmicks. Ofcourse thats where the Drakes and Eminems have taken hiphop (seriously, they have butchered the genre), so his recent stuff has Country music hooks and chorus. He was tight with Timbaland for awhile and was Niveas family friend so he hang with her crowd for awhile. His sound was pretty much lazy dumb redneck, dont know how else to describe it.
Seems to be a pretty ugly and stupid guy, inside and out.
That dude standing next to him might be the least sexy guy I’ve ever seen.
LOL! You made me snort a little bit of coffee up my nose, hahaha
Did he just call me a yuppie? Dude – uncool.
I know, right? The eighties called and… : )
If only we loved black people as much as we loved black culture.
Bingo.
nailed it
Way to generalize. It’s not the case that there are no black racists in this country.
Nymeria, i know right! All that time you take to call your your parents, grandparents, spouse, thst crazy uncle you see on holidays, and co-workers, everytime they say disparaging remarks about black people and using the N-word in your presence, and here someone generalizes online!
Oh wait…you’re NOT doing that? You’re just whining online and making everything about you? OK then, carry on.
I only got about two lines into his rant before giving up, but it looks like a lot of incoherent nonsense.
Love the south and your southern culture? Great- but find a new symbol for because the Confederate flag is done.
That flag has so much hate and violence in its history. If the issue is, say, the South having a flag for good people to celebrate its take-no-crap attitude, then design a new one and get on with it. Make it a design contest for up-and-coming talent. Perhaps the south would benefit from a new flag that shows its hope for its future.
Uuhhh…what? Oh and it’s impossible to separate the racial connotations of the Confederate flag from the flag itself. I understand the “Southern Heritage” thing, but unfortunately the desire to continue with a certain way of life (owning black slaves) is forever entwined with that.
Maybe proud Southerner Reese Witherspoon can design a special Draper James Southern Heritage flag. It’ll be washed-denim blue.
A) I used to like yelawolf but no more
B) never liked kid rock but I was surprised to learn recently that he actually stopped flying the flag years ago, after he connected with the Detroit naacp. He was rude to the protesters bc he does not fly the flag anymore and took umbrage at their saying that he did
Reciepts, if you’re curious:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/07/17/kid-rock-confederate-flag-chevrolet-gm/30300461/
Like I said, not a fan, and he should never have flown it especially given his biracial son bc the flag is 300% racist. but he did change his ways, and before the current controversy
Not at all surprised, given decades of racialist propaganda saturating Americans. And here we are.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/08/civil-war-cinema-confederacy-keaton-lost-cause/
is that fefe dobson with him in the first pic!?
Yep they’re engaged.
I love his newest album, it’s a very brave mix of genres. He’s not as stupid or talentless as you would guess based on this incident.
Oh sweetie, No Fefe, you are better than This guy… Which Now I cringe cause… How does that work?? With a Black girl But Confederate flag repping??? #LoudAndWrong
Wow, I cannot believe that is Fefe. When I first saw the photo I thought, “That girl with him looks strung out or messed up on something”. I used to be a huge fan of hers, and I didn’t even recognize her.
This makes me so angry and so sad that there are people who are proud of being so hateful and disgusting. I remember watching sweet home alabama with Reese Witherspoon and thinking all of those civil war re-enactions were weird but hey they are just proud of where they live but not understanding that it’s actually so racist and offensive.
The people aren’t hateful. Most of them aren’t anyway. They’re misinterpreting what that flag represents. They think it’s southern pride but it isn’t. It’s ignorance not hate for some of them.
I’ve never heard of him but judging from these photos I’m guessing he has at least two STDs, maybe three.
Why has the bird been deleted from that picture? Puritanical censorship is way more offensive than the bird.
He should be with Miley. He understands nothing, is practically illiterate, and looks to be in dire need of a shower. a HAZMAT shower. Moron.
Confession: I have those sunglasses in the top photo… 😒 Viva Talib
What an ass.
I just tweeted my opinion about his derp. Probably won’t be long till I get a bunch of hate-filled tweets back. Oh wells….
he looks hot in the thumbnail pic but in the photo at the top of the article he looks like the epitome of white trash and his girlfriend looks super strung out. gross.
A few corrections to a few posts:
After the Civil War, the Confederate flag was not a symbol of the south until it became popular (via the KKK) during the advent of the Civil Rights movement. It represented a racist reaction of anti-desegregationists.
In fact, it wasn’t the Confederate flag during the war:
“However, of the three flags the Confederacy would go on to adopt, none are the Confederate flag that is traditionally recognized today. The “Stars and Bars” flag, currently the subject of controversy, was actually the battle flag of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.”
http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/22/416548613/the-complicated-political-history-of-the-confederate-flag
And
Although not very many people owned slaves, they ASPIRED to own slaves — just as many people aspire to own trappings of wealth today. They didn’t object to it, and thought it was a very sensible way to run the south. They woulda if they coulda.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/why-is-the-flag-still-there/396431/
Thank you for this post. People are always hollering about the stars and bars being a sign of southern pride and states rights but IT WASN’T EVEN THE CONFEDERATE FLAG. Sorry, no. You do not get to reclaim a flag that was used by one of the most hateful groups in America. You also don’t get to say this isn’t about racism when the people holding it are screaming racist comments. And you definitely don’t get to say it doesn’t represent something hurtful when an entire race of people were treated like property under the very society that youre reminiscent of.
Also, Fefe, girl, you look strung out. Can that be addressed?
@Chrissy actually, ppl can say & do whatever they want to with whatever they want to. Freedom of speech and all, ya know. You may not like or agree with it, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Amazing how some Southerners always complain being seen as backwards, racist hicks and then barely say anything about people like this this in the media, not to mention non southerners co-opting their flag.