Rapper Lil Baby turned the stage at The Grammys into a riot scene. The performance of “The Bigger Picture” included Black Lives activist Tamika D. Mallory demanding “justice, equity, policy and everything else freedom encompasses” from President Joe Biden.
Lil Baby’s set featured actor and Black Lives protester Kendrick Sampson, as he runs from police officers he is portrayed as being shot. Rioters arrive on the scene to throw Molotov cocktails at a building that erupts in flames. Rioters face off with police, fireworks go off, and Lil Baby is on top of a Police Car.
Black Lives Matter activist Tamika Mallory joined Lil Baby during the performance, stating in a monologue:
It’s a state of emergency. It’s been a hell of a year. Hell for over 400 years. My people, it’s time we stand. It’s time we demand the freedom that this land promises. President Biden, we demand justice, equity, policy, and everything else that freedom encompasses, and to accomplish this, we don’t need allies. We need accomplices. It’s bigger than Black and white. This is not a trend, this is our plight. Until freedom.
The performance is in response to the police shooting of Rayshard Brooks in Lil Baby’s hometown of Atlanta, GA, last summer. Brooks was killed in June by a fired Atlanta Police Officer. Brooks, before his death, snatched an officer’s taser, fled, and fired the taser at a second officer. The fired Atlanta officer has been charged with felony murder. Police were called to a Wendys with reports of Brooks sleeping in his car. Rioters burned that Wendy’s to the ground. A schene much like Lil Baby’s portrayed at the Grammys.
The “Song of the Year,” inspired by the death of 46-year-old George Floyd, was “I Can’t Breathe.”