Entertainment
Vanessa Carlton defends use of her hit A Thousand Miles in rap song Who I Smoke: ‘Songs about white violence aren’t questioned’
Singer Vanessa Carlton has defended the use of her classic pop song A Thousand Miles in a rap song after her fans ‘expressed anger’.
The piano-led track, which came out in 2002 and has gone on to become a bit of a cult classic, is sampled in Who I Smoke by Spinabenz, Whoppa Wit Da Choppa, Yungeen Ace and FastMoney Goon.
The song contains controversial, violent lyrics about guns such as: ‘Ayy, when I see you, I’ma push your s**t back, boy/Choppa get to spittin’ through your set, we don’t fight, boy/Twelve paramedics couldn’t save your f**kin’ life, boy/Rod K dead and he never comin’ back, boy.’ The word ‘smoke’ is also used as a slang term meaning kill or shoot.
Vanessa gave her reaction on Twitter, saying ‘white folks’ had ‘expressed anger’ about hearing the chorus of A Thousand Miles in the track.
She tweeted: ‘To the white folks that have expressed anger/shock over my approval of A Thousand Miles’ usage in the Spinabenz, Whoppa Wit Da Choppa, Yungeen Ace, & FastMoney Goon song Who I Smoke, I invite you to ask yourself why you feel this way & then read this.’ She then shared a link to an article titled: ‘Share Cropping Blackness: White Supremacy and the Hyper-Consumption of Black Popular Culture’.
She added: ‘Popular songs accompanied by white violence or tales of white violence aren’t questioned. It’s considered visceral or cinematic. Here we have Stuck in the Middle With You playing while a guy gets his ear cut off. Reservoir Dogs.’
Rapper Yungeen Ace retweeted Vanessa’s comments and added: ‘I got you 4eva’.
Speaking about the 19-year-old song to Vice, Vanessa revealed it was inspired by a crush she had on ‘a famous actor’ when she was a student.
She revealed: ‘I would never talk to this person. I was very shy. I was like, “There’s just no way on God’s creation that this would ever happen.”‘
Vanessa refused to reveal the object of her affections back then, adding: ‘I can’t say this person’s name, because they’re like a famous actor and I don’t want to say.’
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