Benny the Butcher is working to uplift his community amid recent tragedy.
Following the racially-motivated mass shooting in his hometown of Buffalo, New York last month, the Tana Talk 4 rapper is raising money for the families of the 10 victims of Buffalo’s grocery store massacre. Along with the fundraiser, Benny took his philanthropy a step further by releasing a new track “Welcome to the States” on Monday (June 6) — shining a light on gun reform in America.
“Ideologies formed on hate / Now the grocery stores ain’t safe / Mass shooting in my city, eight minutes from where my block at / Saw innocent people shot at a supermarket I shop at,” Benny urgently spits over Kendrick Lamar’s cinematic “We Cry Together” — as the track’s coinciding black-and-white visual eerily intertwines generations of American suffering with historical clips of the Ku Klux Klan.
Benny isn’t the first — and won’t be the last — rapper to speak out on the United States’ surge of mass shootings in recent years. The Buffalo shooting occurred just weeks before 19 elementary students and two teachers were gunned down in Uvalde, Texas, as most Americans continue to call for firearm reform nationwide.
While Benny is still riding the success of his critically-acclaimed Tana Talk 4, it’s refreshing to see the Buffalo native wholeheartedly raise awareness for the victims of the grocery store shooting. Along with teasing a new album, saying “it’s crazy that some people think I reached my peak” on Instagram, Benny continues to be one of the most grounded, down-to-earth emcees in the game — keeping in touch with his roots every step of the way.
You can donate to the Buffalo 5-14 Survivors Fund here.
Listen to “Welcome to the States” below!
