Waka Flocka Flame joins the list of rappers who’ve popped back onto our radar for their confounding political choices.
On Monday, Waka Flocka Flame (a.k.a Juaquin James Malphurs) posted about his support for Donald Trump on X (formerly Twitter). “TRUMP2024,” wrote Waka Flocka Flame, who proceeded to change his profile picture to a photo of himself and the Republican front-runner.
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The responses to his tweet range from calling the Atlanta-based rapper out to cheers from fellow conservatives posting things like, “TRUMP IS THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT IN HISTORY.”
Waka Flocka Flame certainly isn’t the first rapper to endorse Trump. Earlier this year, The Root wrote about the wave of Black rappers who’ve showed Trump their support:
In July 2022, DaBaby called Trump a “gangsta,” because he pardoned Florida rapper Kodak Black.
In November 2020, during his last rally for the 2020 election, President Trump brought out rapper Lil Pump and introduced him to a crowd in Grand Rapids, Mich.
In October 2020, Lil Wayne was seen posing with the former president after he was pardoned on Trump’s last official day in office.
Weeks before Wayne, Ice Cube was under fire after it was revealed that he was working with the Trump administration just days before the election.
Kanye West has essentially been supporting Trump since he initially announced he was running for president seven years ago.
Rappers showing interest in Trump isn’t new. The Huffington Post tracked 67 different times his name was dropped within a rap song over the last 25 years. This affinity persists despite his pretty public history of anti-Black racism. Even before becoming a “birther,” Trump’s anti-Blackness wasn’t a secret. In 1973, the Justice Department sued Trump, his father, and Trump management for illegally discriminating against Black would-be renters. And in 1989, Trump called for the deaths of five Black and Latino children who were wrongfully accused of raping a jogger.
To be clear, a few prominent Black rappers supporting Trump don’t indicate any broad support for the Former President among Black Americans. If anything, it’s a show of how class affinity (a.k.a support amongst the uber rich) is a powerful motivator.
Black voters overwhelmingly supported President Joe Biden in the last election. And despite concerns that Black voters are less enthusiastic about Biden this go-around, it’s highly unlikely that Black voters will completely defect to the Republican party.
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