T.I. performed his socially conscious new song “We Will Not” at the BET Hip Hop Awards on Tuesday night and his performance was powerfully familiar.
The Atlanta based rapper commanded the stage donned in an all black outfit (black beret included). He was then joined and surrounded by Black Lives Matter protesters holding up signs that said “Fight the Power” and “Us or Else.” One by one they began dropping to the ground as two white police officers tapped them with their batons.
“We Will Not” is a commentary on the current racial climate in light of the recent police shootings of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Keith L. Scott, Terence Crutcher and many others.
Lyin’ about what you show in the media
Assassinate all the leaders who leadin’ us
Leave us with ones who misleadin’ us
Then go and reward all the ones who mistreat us
T.I. performed his song as images of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement played behind him.
The cops started to close in on T.I., both standing on each side of the rapper, and attempted to knock him down too, but to their surprise they were the ones that ended up falling to the ground instead and TIP was left standing tall.
“United we stand,” ended T.I. “Look around and see the power around you. We gotta stand together. It’s us or else, it’s do or die. The time is now. They can’t kill us all.”