LAPD: Home Burglaries Reportedly Inspired by YG’s “Meet the Flockers”
YG’s “Meet the Flockers” track is at the center of controversy—once again.
According to TMZ, three men were recently arrested in connection to a series of home burglaries in San Fernadno Valley. The suspects, who were apprehended shortly after one of the break-ins this week, were individually interviewed by the LAPD and reportedly admitted the robberies were inspired by YG’s 2014 track.
The song appeared on the rapper’s My Krazy Life album, and was criticized for encouraging people to burglarize homes—specifically those in Chinese neighborhoods.
“First, you find a house and scope it out/Find a Chinese neighborhood, cause they don’t believe in bank accounts/Second, you find a crew and a driver, someone who ring the doorbell/And someone that ain’t scared to do what it do/Third, you pull up at the spot/Park, watch, ring the doorbell and knock/Four, make sure nobody is home (knock knock)/They gone, OK it’s on,” he raps on the song.
The lyrics inspired several protests against the Compton-bred rapper, many accusing him of promoting cultural violence. An unofficial music video for “Meet the Flockers” also shows two armed men breaking into a house with an Asian family photo on display.
NBC News points out that an online petition was launched in an effort to ban the song from public media.
“It glorifies crime against Asian Americans,” Cliff Li, a protest organizer, told NBC News in 2016. “We want to say it’s wrong to glorify crime against everybody […] Think about all the inner-city kids, think about all the kids in the United States and all over the world, if they watch this, what kind of influence will it have on these kids.”
LAPD officials are reportedly infuriated with YG, calling his song “irresponsible.” But is the rapper actually to blame for the burglaries? It’s important to note he has had some run-ins with the LAPD and was uncooperative in a 2015 shooting investigation. He was also handcuffed by LAPD officers earlier this month after he was pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt. Maybe authorities are taking advantage of the suspect’s statements and using it to tarnish YG’s name.
