T.I. Says, No, Trump May Not Do Whatever He Likes In Regards To His Music

The events of the past six months of this year have been straight up apocalyptic, marked by climate change-induced natural disasters, endless police brutality, and fast spreading global virus that just won’t disappear. But 2020 is also a major election year, and that just means that things are only going to get darker until November finally rolls around. Sitting president Donald Trump is doing his part to make the presidential race as controversial as possible, and his efforts to get re-elected are getting stranger and stranger as the day passes. One new tactic has the world scratching its head — and rapper T.I. fuming.

Trump has been known to troll his opponents, and he’s putting every he's got in his battle for the White House against former Vice President Joe Biden. The politicians have been exchanging verbal blows back and forth for months, but Trump’s latest jab against the former vice president might be the most bizarre jab yet. 

Earlier this week, the president shared a particularly strange anti-Biden ad on his verified Snapchat account (hey, you’ve got to reach the people where they are). The Snapchat story featured a video composed of various images of Biden to the tune of T.I.’s 2008 hit song “Whatever You Like,” cleverly changing the lyrics to throw shade at the Democratic candidate.

"I want yo' body, need yo' body," raps T.I. on the single. "As long as you got me, you won't need nobody."

However, whoever is responsible for social media content on Team Trump played around with the lyrics to make them applicable to the heated 2020 presidential election: "I don't want Joe Biden, need Joe Biden. As long as you got me, you won't need Joe Biden."

I won't lie to you — I definitely laughed the first time I saw the ad because it's just that outlandish. Unsurprisingly, T.I. didn't find the ad funny at all. His team was quick to issue a statement condemning the usage of "Whatever You Like" for Trump's political gain.

"The video distorts lyrics from his #1 charting song by misrepresenting the lyrics through text language and distortion of his recorded voice," read a statement from T.I.'s camp. "It goes without saying that T.I. would not in any way ever support the divisive policies and destructive propaganda of Trump. The people of our country deserve far better than this."

T.I. has been one of the most vocal celebrities speaking out against Trump long before he even reached the White House. The rapper's long-running personal protest against the president has even made its way into his music; in 2018, he mocked the First Lady Melania Trump's now infamous “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” moment in an NSFW video following the president's meeting with Kanye West.

It goes without saying that T.I. is the very last person that the president should involve in his fight with Biden for the highest office in the land. The stakes for the presidential election are much too high for ridiculous memes to be the primary campaign tactic — especially in this sociopolitical climate.