Chance the Rapper Calls Spike Lee’s ‘Chi-Raq’ Offensive
Since its premise was announced -- and especially since its first trailer was released last month -- Spike Lee's Chi-Raq has drawn scorn from some observers and Chicagoans. In short: In a modernization of the famous Aristophanes play Lysistrata, women on the city's violent South side band together to withhold sex until killing stops. With the film opening today (Dec. 4), Windy City native Chance the Rapper added his voice to the chorus against Lee's latest. From his Twitter:
Chance's breakthrough mixtape, 2013's Acid Rap, takes careful looks at the obstacles facing Chicago's Black youth. From "Paranoia":
"They murking kids, they murder kids here/Why you think they don't talk about it? They deserted us here/Where the fuck is Matt Lauer at? Somebody get Katie Couric in here/Probably scared of all the refugees, look like we had a fucking hurricane here."
Since the release of that tape, Chance has himself become a father. Lysistrata, which was first performed in or around 411 B.C., comments on the Peloponnesian War, which had begun some 20 years prior. On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Lee suggested that young women should take a similar approach to ending college campus rape. (While the women's strategy in the play is ultimately successful, it's important to note that women in ancient Greece were not citizens and lacked voting and most other individual rights.) Also available today is the Chi-Raq soundtrack, which is available to stream below.
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