Vanessa Bryant Slams Meek Mill for Kobe Lyric: "This Lacks Respect and Tact"

Vanessa Bryant, like the rest of the world, is still grieving the loss of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and their daughter Gianna Bryant. While no one expected to hear the tragic news of their deaths, it has brought fans and loved ones alike together to mourn. And when it comes to showing respect to our fallen stars, one wrong move can wreak havoc on your career. This is something that rapper Meek Mill is experiencing. 

The “Championships” rapper made the rookie mistake of referencing Kobe in a song. And while rappers and singers reference celebrities and sports stars all the time in their music, the Philadelphia rapper managed to disrespect Kobe’s fans and his family. Here’s the 4-1-1.

If you consider yourself to be a hip-hop fan, then you know that it's super common for rappers and singers to pay homage to their idols in song. And while many of those songs still serve as great works of art, some have the ability to ruin an artist’s career — and the way fans look at them.

When it comes to Meek Mill, he made the grave mistake of mentioning Kobe’s plane crash in a song. In the leaked track “Don’t Worry” that features fellow rapper Lil Baby, he clearly crossed the line with this lyric.

“If I ever lack I’m goin’ out with my choppa, it be another Kobe,” Meek said.

And naturally, fans took to social media to sound off about how disrespectful the lyric was. Many people said that he took a major “L” by rapping the lyric, while others said that he’s simply an idiot for making that move.

And to make matters worse, he doesn’t appear to see where he went wrong. He previously responded to all the backlash by basically laughing it off in a tweet. “Somebody promo a narrative and y’all follow it…. y’all internet antics cannot stop me …. s–t like zombie land or something! Lol.”

He later added, “They paying to influence y’all now… it's almost like mind control ‘wake up.'”

As we all can imagine, it has been really hard for Vanessa and her family to pick up the pieces after Kobe and Gianna's untimely passing. And while many fans and other celebrities continue to support them, there are other people who simply don’t know or understand boundaries. 

And once Vanessa got wind of Meek Mill’s lyric, she didn’t hesitate to call him out and let him know it was disrespectful.

On Monday Feb. 22, 2021, Vanessa took to her Instagram story to share her sentiments about the lyric.

“Dear @meekmill, I find this line to be extremely insensitive and disrespectful,” she wrote. “Period. I am not familiar with any of your music, but I believe you can do better than this.”

She continued, “If you are a fan, fine, there’s a better way to show your admiration for my husband. This lacks respect and tact.”

While Meek Mill said on Twitter that he already apologized to Vanessa in private, many people think that the damage is already done. After all, he did tweet, "I'm going back savage in this s--t. F--k ya feelings."

There’s no denying that certain things may be said in songs for shock value or to take digs at other artists, but musicians should be careful about what they say.

It’s easy to chop this all up to it just being a lyric, however, referencing Kobe’s passing is all types of wrong. No matter what intentions he had behind it, the lyric was simply unacceptable.

Of course, apologizing to the family was the right thing to do, and Meek Mill needs to keep the same energy with Kobe fans. For the sake of doing the right thing and mending his reputation and career, it may be smart for Meek Mill to take accountability the right way.