In early February, Cardi B posted a photo of herself wearing a blue coat on Instagram with the caption: "I hate wearing Flue but this coat was too poppin." Her use of "flue" in place of blue was seen as an act of disrespect to Crips, and she reportedly received death threats before taking the post down.
Some Los Angeles residents responded to her statement with #DONTCOMETOLA comments, but Cardi chose to honor her multiple party hosting commitments in the city for All-Star Weekend anyway. Compton rapper The Game attended one of those events, where he told TMZ that everyone should chill out about the whole situation.
"That's dangerous shit," The Game acknowledged. "But I talked to Cardi and she understands the politics of LA, but she's still who she is. That has to be respected, but there's a position here that has to be respected. But all in all, Cardi came through and had a good time."
The Game admitted that there are complicated politics involved in the current LA gang situation, which could get messy if people step in without understanding it, but he sided with Cardi on this one.
"I like Cardi B," he explained. "I like her music. I like what she stands for. She represents who I am and where I come from, and everybody that's overly trippin' just needs to chill. She's a good girl. We hollered about it. She ain't mean nothin'. She's got her whole thing that she represents and she stands for. That has to be respected. She's from a whole different side of America. We're from a whole different side of America and people that took offense, just shoot the shit under the rug and have a good time. It's All-Star Weekend. Everybody chill out."
On Friday, Nipsey Hussle had similar thoughts on the situation as The Game—but from a Crips' perspective (Nipsey is a member of the Rollin 60's Neightborhood Crips gang).
"If we just be honest, that's how Bloods talk amongst they self," he told Big Boy TV. "Crips gon’ say certain words also. A Crip might say ‘dead’ instead of saying ‘red.’ A Blood might say ‘flue’ instead of ‘blue,’ But the disrespect happens when you go public, and you’re not in the privacy of your hood or your homies, and you’re talking about that publicly."
Nipsey added, "You’ve never heard Nips say ‘dead’ or ‘slob’ in a record, based on the respect. What I realize and what we learned growing up is that whatever you say in private, you gotta be able to say in public. If you're not going to be able to walk into a room full of Crips and say that, don't say it […] At the end of the day, she's a woman, she's a female, everybody loving her wave, everybody loving her music. It's just something she should probably correct—go public and say look, ‘This is how Bloods talk privately. We ain't mean no disrespect.’”
