Rappers' lyrics have the power to sway public opinion much greater than any other genre. That same logic can apply to the various incidents rappers get themselves into. Sometimes, with all the boasting and tough talking that goes on in hip-hop, an apology can be difficult to get out of rappers. You can blame the humiliation factor, but the reality is rappers rarely backtrack on their own words.

Take Lil Wayne for example: Today he finally released a public apology for his verse on Future’s unofficial “Karate Chop (Remix).” After months of a firestorm over his vulgar line, Wayne admitted that he was wrong for referencing civil rights figure Emmett Till. In light of Wayne being in the hot seat again, here are 10 other rappers who have apologized for their actions. Find out why these rappers had to ask for forgiveness.

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Diddy Goes After Steve Stoute For Nas's "Hate Me Now"

Date: May 1999
Incident: Diddy requests that his crucification scene in Nas's "Hate Me Now" video be edited out of the version for MTV. Steve Stoute, Nas's manager, refuses to oblige. Diddy then brings his goons to Stoute's office, and Stoute is left with a broken arm and jaw.

Before Puff was the media mogul he was today, he was a kid from Harlem. So when Steve Stoute refused to follow his orders, mayhem ensued. After the matter was settled out of court, Diddy made a public apology in USA Today for his wrongdoings. What can we learn from this? You can take the man out of Harlem, but you can't take Harlem out of the man.—Abrea Armstrong

Apology: “I made a major mistake, and I have to handle the consequences for it. I have to admit I was totally wrong. I have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

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Jay-Z's Disrespect Toward Nas Going Too Far

Date:
December 2001
Lyric: "Me and tha boy A.I. got more in Common than just ballin and rhymin/ Get It?/ More in Carmen/ I came in ya Bentley backseat/ Skeeted in Jeep/ Left condoms in tha baby seat/ Here nigga, tha gloves is off/The love is done."

No one is immune to being afraid of their mother, including the seemingly unconquerable Hov. So when his mother told him, "That went too far," he listened, and the very next day an apology was issued. That's what I call omnipotence.—Abrea Armstrong

Apology: “I apologize. I felt like I didn't think about women's feelings or [Nas's former girlfriend's] feelings, or even my mom. It was really like, 'Let me meet your level of disrespect with this level of disrespect.'"

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50 Cent Doesn't Like Gay People Around Him

Date: March 2004
Quote: "I ain't into faggots. I don't like gay people around me, because I'm not comfortable with what their thoughts are. I'm not prejudiced. I just don't go with gay people and kick it … But women who like women, that's cool."

50 Cent famously made that statement to Playboy magazine in 2004. The rapper's lyrics have often included gay slurs, and he called joint Kanye West/Lady Gaga concerts as "the gay tour."

50 Cent's worst moment may have been following the 2010 suicide of 18-year-old Tyler Clementi, who was gay. The rapper tweeted: "If you a man and your over 25 and you don't eat pu**y just kill your self damn it. The world will be a better place. Lol."—Anastasia Williams

Apology: 50 Cent told MTV UK, "Anyone that has an issue with Frank Ocean is an idiot. I think Frank Ocean is a talented artist, I think he's created material that made me know his name, that impressed me … The more successful that project is now, it's going to leave people in the position where they can actually say: 'Look, I'm gay.'"

He added, "You can call it brave or you can call it marketing, because it was intentional; it wasn't an accident."

There's more. Ever since President Barack Obama made comments about supporting gay marriage, 50 Cent has done the same. "If the president is [endorsing] that, then who am I to go the other way?" he explained.

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Gucci Mane Mistakenly Thinks T.I. Dissed Him

Date: July 2007
Incident: Gucci released T.I. diss named "What Kinda King (Smells Like Pussy)"

Gucci aims his disrespect track directly and explicitly at T.I. because he thought Tip dissed him on his T.I. Vs Tip album. Once Gucci realized that this was merely a misunderstanding, he went onto Hot 97 to apologize to his labelmate. The apology, though, was more about business then it was about anything else.—Abrea Armstrong

Apology: "I would like to wish him success on his new thing, 'cause I got new stuff coming out and I want mine to be just as successful. I want his to be successful 'cause his success helps mine, truth, I had to be the bigger man."

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Ice-T Tells Soulja Boy To "Eat A D*ck"

Date: June 23, 2008
Lyric: “eat a d*ck”

Ice-T told Soulja Boy to “eat a d*ck” on that now infamous mixtape, DJ Cisco's Urban Legend. But he then went on to call his music garbage and threatened ramifications “from hip-hop.”—Anastasia Williams

Apology: “I apologize Soulja Boy for telling you to eat a d*ck. That was just in anger. Because truthfully, a brother of my caliber shouldn’t be talking down on a youngster of your age. But as far as your music goes.. it’s garbage! There are kids that go in the studio and really try to rap. That really sit down and write stuff. I’m talking about you are garbage! We got to get rid of that, man. Hip-hop has to last, and it aint gonna last with you doing that Supaman bullshit.”

Soulja Boy July 2012)
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Soulja Boy Throws Shots At The U.S. Armed Forces

Date: September 2011
Lyric: "F--k the FBI and the army troops ... fighting for what? Be your own man..."

From the first moment we saw Soulja Boy in the infectious "Crank That" video, we all knew that the kid was going to be a handful. But in 2011, he took things a step too far by making some "unflattering" statements about the U.S. Armed Forces.—Abrea Armstrong

Apology: "As an artist, I let my words get the best of me. Sometimes there are things that we feel, things that we want to express, and when we put them on paper and speak them out loud, they can come out wrong. When I expressed my frustration with the U.S. Army, not only did my words come out wrong, I was wrong to even speak them. So, I write this to give my sincerest apology to all members of the United States military services, as well as their families that were offended by my most recent lyrics."

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Meek Mill's "Amen" Offends Christians

Date: July 2012
Incident: He releases a song titled, "Amen."

One of the biggest hits of the summer was Meek Mill's collaboration with Drake for "Amen." Unfortunately, some members of the clergy community were not quite thrilled to have a religious song title paired with the track's sometimes less-than-savory content. They even went as far as starting a church boycott. In an interview on BET's 106 & Park, the MMG spitter clarified his non-malicious intentions.—Abrea Armstrong

Apology: "I wasn’t trying to disrespect no religion or anything like that. My whole family is Christian. I have a half Christian, half Muslim family, the situation, the song, that’s what energy it felt and if anybody feel disrespected, I ain’t do it in that way...I did it just because it was a good feeling—that’s the feeling it gave me so I said, ‘Amen, church.' I didn’t do it with bad intentions at the end of the day.”

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Footage Of Lil Reese Beating A Woman Surfaces

Date: October 2012
Incident: A video of the Chicago rapper beating a woman is leaked.

The Drill Movement in Chicago is full of youngins on the come up. One of them is Chief Keef's right-hand guy in GBE, Lil Reese. The Internet was ablaze when a video of him attacking a woman was released. He then issued an apology via his Twitter account.—Abrea Armstrong

Apology: "Everybody makes mistakes I was out of character & I've grown [since] then. Don't judge me for my past. I can admit my wrongs and I apologize. #3hunna."

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Psy Advocates The Death Of American Soldiers

Date: December 7, 2012
Lyric: “F**king Westerner bastards” who are responsible for the torture of Iraqi POWs should be killed, “slowly and painfully.”

PSY participated in a protest concert, where he joined South Korean rappers JP, Prhyme and MC Sniper in a performance with the hard-rock band N.EX.T, delivering a live rendition of an angry rant titled ”Dear American,” written by N.EX.T.’s lead singer, Shin Hae Chul. As has been widely reported, the words from the verse PSY delivers declare that the “f**king Westerner bastards” responsible for the torture of Iraqi POWs should be killed, “slowly and painfully,” along with their families.

Though shockingly over-the-top, the rest of the song, which refers to “naked prisoners of war,” “reality trash porn” and a “contemporary crisis that has devastated the world, religion and human dignity,” contextualize the verse as part of a bitter commentary on the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib detention facility—a scandal that had just unfurled publicly the month before and that was widely believed to have provoked al-Zarqawi to begin his campaign of abductions and executions. Meanwhile, the song’s chorus calls for America to “Stop the War!” and “Stop the Crime!”—sentiments that were as common on protest signs in major U.S. cities as in Seoul.—Anastasia Williams

Apology: “As a proud South Korean who was educated in the United States and lived there for a very significant part of my life, I understand the sacrifices American servicemen and women have made to protect freedom and democracy in my country and around the world. The song I featured on in question from eight years ago—was part of a deeply emotional reaction to the war in Iraq and the killing of two Korean schoolgirls that was part of the overall antiwar sentiment shared by others around the world at that time. While I’m grateful for the freedom to express one’s self, I’ve learned there are limits to what language is appropriate, and I’m deeply sorry for how these lyrics could be interpreted. I will forever be sorry for any pain I have caused by those words.

“I have been honored to perform in front of American soldiers in recent months—including an appearance on the Jay Leno show specifically for them—and I hope they and all Americans can accept my apology. While it’s important that we express our opinions, I deeply regret the inflammatory and inappropriate language I used to do so. In my music, I try to give people a release, a reason to smile. I have learned that thru music, our universal language we can all come together as a culture of humanity and I hope that you will accept my apology.”

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Rick Ross Apologizes For Controversial Rap Lyric In "U.O.E.N.O."

Date: February 2013
Lyric: "Put molly all in her champagne, she ain’t even know it/I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain’t even know it."

Rick Ross is never going to hear the end of his “U.O.E.N.O” backlash. Once the song appeared on Rocko’s Gift Of Gab 2, the sudden explosion from media outlets, women’s rights group and more was overwhelming. Ross would issue a few lackluster apologies for the lyrics, but eventually Reebok would drop him because he didn’t live up to the values of their brand. Interestingly enough, Reebok’s CEO Uli Becker believes Ross is a “great guy.” It’s just his advisors aren’t on the same page and steered him the wrong way.—Eric Diep

Apology: "Before I am an artist, I am a father, a son and a brother to some of the most cherished women in the world. So for me to suggest in any way that harm and violation be brought to a woman is one of my biggest mistakes and regrets. As an artist, one of the most liberating things is being able to paint pictures with my words. But with that comes a great responsibility. And most recently, my choice of words was not only offensive, it does not reflect my true heart. And for this, I apologize. To every woman that has felt the sting of abuse, I apologize. I recognize that as an artist I have a voice and with that, the power of influence. To the young men who listen to my music, please know that using a substance to rob a woman of her right to make a choice is not only a crime, it’s wrong and I do not encourage it. To my fans, I also apologize if I have disappointed you. I can only hope that this sparks a healthy dialogue and that I can contribute to it."

—William Roberts (a.k.a “Rick Ross”)

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