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Co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records Kareem 'Biggs' Burke criticized Kanye West's newly launched 'White Lives Matter' t-shirt.
The recording executive told TMZ in an exclusive interview that he's "not with" the message as it was "born out of something different." He continued to say:
"We should focus on the lives that was lost and how much people that was hurt and all the injustice that's been done."
Biggs went on to say that these t-shirts could cause more harm than good, owing to the fact that the message is hurting the people and the families who have suffered the most due to police brutality and racial discrimination.
The entrepreneurial mogul defended the "Black Lives Matter" movement by admitting to its imperfections. He said that even if Kanye West thinks that the BLM movement was "handled improperly," there is no reason to weaponize so heavily against it.
"The genisis of where it came from, with injustices to the race, police brutality etc., the families of the victims are still being hurt by the "White Lives Matter" slogan."
He continued:
"I don't think Kanye's thinking about those families when he's doing something."
Biggs even challenged the media to find ways to "fix" the mishandling of the BLM movement instead of publicizing the t-shirts that were launched during Paris Fashion Week earlier this month.
West, of course, had very little to say on the matter. When asked why he made the t-shirts, he simply responded with an image of the controversial t-shirt, captioning it "They Do."
Who is 'Biggs' Burke and what's his relationship with Kanye?
Kareem Burke, 48, was born in New York and is currently best known for co-founding Roc-A-Fella Records with Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Damon "Dame" Dash. He also serves as an executive producer for HBO, manages artist SAINt JHN, and runs BOLO Media.
Biggs has previously worked with the Donda rapper several times, even wanting to sign him as an artist to his label. West was a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s. On The Angie Martinez Show in 2016, Biggs referred to the rapper as a "genius" in the making. Being instrumental in choosing his singles, the producer found significant potential in the Yeezy owner.
After claiming to work on West's debut album The College Droupout from "A to Z," Biggs even mentioned that the rapper was 'not much different' back then. He said:
"He was really annimated, but he already had the names of his next three albums. He didn't change them."
Their relationship began in the early aughts, but seems to have fizzled out due to the rapper's current controversial stances.
Kanye has been in the limelight often these past few weeks following his YZY SZN9 fashion show and his Instagram accusations against various high profile celebrities and businesspeople.
