Black Christians have flexed their pocketbooks, and for the first time in recent memory they banded together to boycott a popular hip hop artist. And it appears that the boycott was successful and may have long-standing impact on the relationship between the Black church and hip hop going forward.
Media Take Out learned that thousands of Christians in the New Orleans area started a campaign to stop people from purchasing tickets to Da Baby’s upcoming concert. The boycott appears to have worked. We confirmed that less than 500 tickets were sold, for a venue that holds 14,000 people.
This time, the Black Church took on disrespect . . . and hit rappers where it hurts – in their POCKETS!
Here’s what went down. Rapper Da Baby is known for his outrageous and over the top lyrics and the imagery in his music videos. But his latest video, for the song Tough Skin, really rubbed many Christians the wrong way.
In the video, Media Take Out learned that Da Baby portrayed himself as Jesus on the cross. He also used other imagery, that many felt had satanic vibes.
Church leaders all across the South blasted the imagery in the video, which many felt were extremely disrespectful of Jesus, and of Christianity at large. A group of church leaders asked Da Baby to pull the video, and to apologize to the Christian community.
Da Baby didn’t pull the video or apologize, and the church leaders began asking Louisianians to boycott Da Baby’s New Orleans concert – which was to be held at the Smoothie King Arena.
It seemed like an impossible ask – to organize thousands of people to boycott one of the biggest hip hop artists in the world.
Well it worked. Media Take Out confirmed that Da Baby sold less than 500 tickets. He was projected to sell out the arena before the boycott was announced.
We could be entering a new era … where Black churches actually have the power to impact imagery in hip hop.
