
Maybe his next hit will be a cover of Badfinger’s ’70s hit “Come and Get It,” which includes the lyrics “Did I hear you say that there must be a catch?/Will you walk away from a fool and his money?” Except in rapper Blueface’s case, there was a catch. You had to be willing to debase yourself — pushing and shoving — to get to the handfuls of cash the “musician” was flinging from the roof of a van in Los Angeles’s Skid Row.
A video of incident, which was intended as an act of charity in the days leading up to Christmas, was posted on Twitter and promptly went viral.
Rapper, Blueface traveled to Skid Row in Downtown, Los Angeles today to give back to those in need during this holiday season. pic.twitter.com/9L37n9aZdM
— JaValle (@JaValle) December 23, 2019
But the reception was not the one the performer, whose real name is Johnathan Michael Porter, was likely expecting. “This is gross on so many levels,” one commenter wrote on Twitter, while another called the behavior “gross, degrading and humiliating. This isn’t giving back, it is treating human beings in need like animals.”
This is so gross, degrading and humiliating. This isn’t giving back, it is treating human beings in need like animals.
— Nicholas Ferroni (@NicholasFerroni) December 24, 2019
Then again, what would you expect from a “songwriter” whose claim to fame is lyrics like “Pick it up, now break that sh*t down (break it down)/Speed it up, then slow that sh*t down”? For such a person, the difference between heartfelt giving and crass self-congratulation is non-existent.