Chicago Rapper Says 'Chi-Raq' Is 'Exploitative And Problematic'

Since the announcement of Spike Lee’s latest film “Chi-Raq,” Chicago residents from Mayor Rahm Emanuel to rappers Rhymefest and King Louie have voiced their disapproval of how the New York-native is highlighting black-on-black gun violence in the city's Englewood neighborhood. 

Chicago rapper Chance The Rapper has joined the growing list of critics, tweeting this weekend that the film is "exploitative and problematic."

Let me be the one from Chicago to personally tell you we not supporting this film out here

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) December 4, 2015

That shit get ZERO love out here. Shit is goofy and it's a bunch of ppl from NOT around here telling u to support that shit

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) December 4, 2015

The people that made that shit didn't do so to "Save Lives". It's exploitive and problematic

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) December 4, 2015

He went on to comment on the film's plot -- which features women participating in a sex strike in an effort to stop gun violence in the city -- calling it offensive to any mother who lost a child in Chicago. "The idea that women abstaining from sex would stop murders is offensive and a slap in the face to any mother that lost a child here."

Also the idea that women abstaining from sex would stop murders is offensive and a slap in the face to any mother that lost a child here

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) December 4, 2015

You don't do any work with the children of Chicago, You don't live here, you've never watched someone die here. Don't tell me to be calm

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) December 4, 2015

Last month Lee responded to critics who criticized him for making a film about Chicago to “rednecks” from the South during the Civil Rights era.

"That sounds like those redneck crackers in the South. When Civil Rights people come down to Mississippi or Alabama, ‘These rabble rousers come down here,'" Lee said during an appearance on  “Windy City LIVE.” “'We know how to treat our Negroes good. We don't need nobody else come up there tell us how to work with our Negroes.' Same type of mentality."

“And then here’s another thing, people are saying, ‘You’ve never shown New York in a bad light,’” he added. “People are talking stuff that have never seen my films. Go back to ‘Clockers.’ ‘Clockers’ is 100 percent about black men killing black men. But a lot of people are judging the film on a two minute and 30-second trailer.”

According to Box Office Mojo, “Chi-Raq” opened in 305 theaters and pulled in $1.2 million during its opening weekend --which landed the controversial film at the #13 slot on this past weekend’s Box Office list.

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