Drakeo The Ruler’s Brother Calls Out Recording Academy For In Memoriam Snub

The Grammys’ In Memoriam segment raised a lot of eyebrows this year, and now, people have another reason to be angry.

Source: Timothy Norris / Getty

Following backlash over Virgil Abloh being labeled a “hip hop fashion designer,” fans are pointing out another mistake from Sunday’s ceremony: leaving out Drakeo The Ruler.

The late rapper’s brother, Ralfy the Plug, spoke to TMZ about the oversight, saying Drakeo being left out of the In Memoriam section felt like a “spit in the face.”

“On behalf of Drakeo The Ruler, Ketchy The Great and The Stinc Team, it comes off as a spit in the face disregarding the facts that we’ve created an entire movement that generated the momentum for underground emerging L.A. artists to have a platform,” Ralfy said in a statement. “Let alone the reality that we lost my Brother, Drakeo The Ruler, the poster child for systematic prejudices against rappers by law enforcement using lyrics against our culture and violating what they call our constitutional rights of freedom of speech- The First Amendment.”

He closed out the statement by saying that the West coast rapper being left out reflects how little the music industry cares about certain movements.

“Leaving Drakeo out of their tribute and by not giving him any acknowledgment of his existence sums up exactly what we feel the industry has been trying to do. Erase us,” he added.

Unfortunately, the Grammys not being on the pulse of hip hop is nothing new.