Anti-American rap by cabinet minister's son
A B.C. cabinet minister is defending her son's right to perform a rap song about the softwood lumber dispute that labels Americans as "thick-skulled thieves."
Joyce Murray says her son, Baba Brinkman, was only exercising his right to freedom of expression.
Brinkman performed the song for an audience of forest industry executives at a political fundraiser earlier this month.
He admits his lyrics were inflammatory, but says he thought his listeners would appreciate some "healthy anti-Americanism."
But what he didn't know was that several American lumber buyers were present, as he urged B.C.'s forest minister to wage a trade war against the U.S.
"And I for one believe in Mike de Jong, when he gets hold of these thick-skulled thieves with their greedy mitts full of our money, he's not the type to let go. He's like the Liberal equivalent of a pit bull," he rapped.
Brinkman says his performance rubbed a few people the wrong way. But not his mother, Joyce Murray, who is B.C.'s minister of management services.
"From my perspective there was nothing offensive," she says. "It was a rap celebrating the tough fight minister de Jong has taken on,"
Murray says she's proud of her son. And Brinkman says what's a rapper to be if not controversial.
- LINK: Baba Brinkman
