Florida rapper targets WestJet in chart-topping hit
Tony Seskus | CBC News | Posted: December 15, 2017 5:10 PM | Last Updated: December 15, 2017
Dispute with airline results in flight ban, epic rap slam
The history of hip hop is rife with epic rap battles, from Jay Z and Nas to 2Pac and Biggie.
And then there's whatever Gazzy Garcia has going on with WestJet.
The Florida rapper known as "Lil Pump" has trained his lyrical crosshairs on Canada's "Little Airline that could" in a dispute that's soared to the top of charts.
The song, as many a teenager will tell you, is called Gucci Gang. And in lyrics any school principal would call profane, Pump waxes on about cocaine, expensive jeans and sex.
He repeats, almost hypnotically, the term "Gucci Gang" during a chorus that contains very little else. In the music video, Pump is seen walking through a school hallway with a tiger.
Released earlier this fall, the ditty is catchy enough to have climbed all the way to No. 2 on the U.S. hip hop charts and No.3 in Canada.
But embedded within Pump's reflections on sex, drugs and high-end shopping, he also takes a lyrical stab at the Calgary-based airline.
"F--k your airline, f--k your company," Pump intones during the two-minute song.
"They kicked me out the plane off a Percocet/ Now Lil Pump fly a private jet/ Everybody screaming, F--k WestJet!"
It's unclear whether the song is aspirational or if 17-year-old Pump does indeed fly in a private plane these days.
One thing is true: he's not flying WestJet.
Pump has reportedly been banned from the airline but it's not because of the surprising hit. It's apparently because of his behaviour aboard a WestJet flight from the United States to Toronto last July.
Much of it can be found on YouTube under the heading "Lil Pump Annoying People On An Airplane, Not Letting Them Sleep, Yelling 'Esketit.'"
Indeed, the video shows exactly that.
Esketit, by the way, apparently means "Let's get it" though knowing that won't help viewers make much sense of the three-minute segment.
He also repeatedly boasts of flying "first class" while showing off his gold chain. For the record, WestJet does not have "first class" seats but its "Plus" fare is what the airline calls "Premium Economy."