On Friday (July 8), Roddy Ricch hit the stage in Finsbury Park in London, England for the Wireless Festival. He gave an amazing show, however, his audience has stirred up a bit of a debate. As the 23-year-old performed his 2019 hit, “The Box,” the mostly white fans in the crowd sang the song word for word — very clearly yelling “nigga” at the top of their lungs. Black Twitter (and many others) weren’t here for it.
“Live rap shows unlock a different level of audacity in [white] people, I swear,” a fan tweeted. Another added, “Going to see [your] favorite rapper perform live as a Black person HAS to be top 10 terror.” In 2018, a clip of Kendrick Lamar went viral after he called a white fan out for using the slur during a show. In the video, a white woman was brought on stage to rap with the Compton native. The white fan proudly says “nigga” four times before K. Dot asks for the music to be stopped. He lets the fan know that she’s not allowed to say that word on his stage.
In Friday’s case, it wasn’t just one fan. It was thousands. Another tweet on the topic said, “It would be unbearable for me to have to perform for [an almost all-white] crowd and then listen to them say ‘nigga’ repeatedly throughout the song.” A user with similar thoughts added, “I’ve been saying this for years. The n-word does not belong in music.” One person noted that a clean version of the song exists that white fans could have opted for. “If we being technical @RoddyRicch has a clean version of the box that actually is played on the radio and you can find it on YouTube and any music platform.” They continued, “The word is marked out. They was saying [nigga] before he even said it.”
During Roddy’s performance, the “Real Talk” rapper took time out to pay his respects to lives lost. On the venue’s large screens were images of Trayvon Martin, Young Dolph, Left Eye, Trouble and more who lost their lives too soon. Other artists who performed at this year’s Wireless Festival include Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Lil Durk, Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion and more.
Check out the top tweets addressing the crowd, plus Kendrick’s infamous clip below.