Famous personalities, businesses and record labels posted black squares this past Tuesday on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, vowing not to post anything else. This comes in the wake of the death of 46-year-old African-American George Floyd. The day was dubbed Black Out Tuesday.
The purpose of this movement was to flood all social media platforms with black squares so that people can take time off social media to school themselves about the Black Lives Matter movement.
Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the USA during an arrest. A White-American policeman, Derek Chauvin, kept his knee on the side of George’s neck for nine minutes straight until he was motionless – he was cuffed and lying face down.
South African celebrities also took the initiative to create awareness around Black Out Tuesday, posting black squares, including Hip Hop superstar and Cotton Fest founder Riky Rick.
This morning the rapper took to his social media to plead with record companies, more especially those that took part in Black Out Tuesday, to free young black artists from slave recording deals.
“RECORD COMPANIES THAT DID ‘BLACKOUTTUESDAY’. WILL YOU PLEASE FREE THE YOUNG BLACK ARTISTS THAT ARE FIGHTING TO BE RELEASED FROM EXPLOITATIVE SLAVE CONTRACTS???,” posted Riky Rick.
Twitter embed
South African artists have cried out in recent months about unfair deals and treatment from record labels. One of those being talented rapper Emtee, real name Mhembeni Ndevu, who eventually parted with his record label and is now Independent.
His then-record label has distanced itself from these allegations but the rapper still maintains his story. Emtee has been in and out of court trying to get what’s due to him.
Riky Rick has never been shy about speaking his mind which sometimes lands him in hot water.
