Waka Flocka Flame, the rapper known for hip-hop hits “No Hands” and “Hard In Da Paint,” has again expressed his support for Trump. He told fans at his Salt Lake City concert this week to “get out” if they plan to vote for Biden, before dedicating his next song to Donald Trump: “We're gonna party right now for T24.”
As a paying concert goer who just wanted to see the show, the comments must have been a hard pill to swallow if your political affiliations didn’t align with the rapper’s. However, it’s hard to know where Flocka stands at any one point, as he’s gone from criticizing Trump in pretty dramatic ways to likening the former President (and now convicted felon) to hip hop legend Tupac Shakur, all within a span of a few years.
In 2015, Flocka shot back at Trump’s stance on immigration, tweeting at Trump, “I wonder how many hardworking Mexicans built those #trumptowers,” and adding that the then presidential hopeful was a “#patheticman!!!!”
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To be sure, that was a long time ago—and Flocka also leaned into his own presidential aspirations soon after, officially announcing to Rolling Stone in 2015 that he was running for President. He clarified his distaste for Trump, saying in an interview that “I’m not voting for Donald Trump because he’s for money,” according to Newsweek, and added, “In a time like this, we need somebody that's for the people, and Trump is definitely not for the people.”
His criticism of Trump went so far as to veer on the ridiculous, like when in 2017, he asked for a fan’s Trump jersey from the crowd at one of his shows. He pretended to be down with the Trump support, telling the fan “I fuck with it,” before getting his hands on the jersey and wiping his bare butt with it.
Trump left such a bad taste in the rapper’s mouth that a whole storyline surrounding his displeasure with his mother’s support of Trump was emphasized on the reality show he frequented, Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta. But somewhere along the way, something shifted for the rapper.
By 2020, Flocka confused and angered fans—and gained support from the likes of conservative commentator Tomi Lahren—when he posted on Instagram that Trump was a better President than Barack Obama. And by 2023, Flocka was tweeting his support for the former President.
Earlier this year, in the Hulu documentary Hip Hop And The White House, Flocka endorsed Trump again and said the former President was more like Tupac Shakur than Barack Obama—a sentiment he did not, or could not, explain.
Representatives for Waka Flocka Flame did not respond to requests for comment.
