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Trump and hip-hop used to be friendly
01:29 - Source: CNN

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Macklemore led the crowds in 'f--- Donald Trump' chants

He was featured on YG's "FDT pt. 2" last year

CNN  — 

Macklemore is unleashing on the President, leading the crowd in a “f— Donald Trump” chant in his most recent shows as the words lit up the stage behind him.

The singer led the chant at his show in Phoenix over the weekend after doing so Thursday in Los Angeles.

The chant is actually the hook to Compton rapper YG’s 2016 song, “FDT,” which stands for “f— Donald Trump,” off the album “Still Brazy.” Macklemore and Oakland rapper G-Eazy are featured on the popular remix of the song called “FDT pt. 2” — which became a popular summer protest anthem ahead of the general election.

Macklemore performs on October 1, 2017 in Sydney, Australia.

“Ima stay right here, I ain’t livin’ in fear/ With my people who are muslims, Mexican and queer/ And we ain’t gonna let you f— up four years,” the Seattle rapper, whose full name is Ben Haggerty, rapped at the sold out shows during the first leg of his “Gemini” world tour.

When “FDT” was released, YG told CNN’s #GetPolitical in August 2016 that while he does not consider himself to be a “political” person, he decided to speak out against the then-presidential candidate because he is concerned about Trump’s anti-Mexican rhetoric and his dismissal of police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“(Trump) can’t be counted on to handle these issues. This issue is important to the black community, period. It’s life,” YG said. “This s— is bigger than hip- hop. … We’re supposed to use our platform to speak up and bring our brothers together and put some light on some of this s— that’s not right for our people.”

YG explained how he got Macklemore and G-Eazy on the remix in an interview with Vice News in July 2016:


They’re the two biggest white rappers in the game! I’m like, if I get two of the biggest white rap dudes in the game on this ‘F— Donald Trump’ record, that s— is gonna mean something. Before Macklemore was on “Part 2” he said like, ‘Good s— bro, that s— was needed,’ about the first song. So I was like, “Bro, you support Trump?” and he was like ‘F— no!’ I’m like, ‘Well look, I’m doing this remix and I want you to hop on it. It’s actually with G-Eazy.’ And he was like, ‘I got you, send that s—.”

“That’s just the rap community. Everybody know that’s where this rap s— started from: talking about problems and what’s going on in inner city communities,” YG added.

“F— Donald Trump” became a popular rallying call at hip-hop shows last year. After decades of idolizing Trump’s wealth and power in hundreds of lyrics, hip-hop turned on Trump in 2016 and largely settled for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. You can check out #GetPolitical’s lyrics analysis here.