Detroit can't escape Trump's rap obsession

Three of Detroit's most commercially successful rap artists are defending their decision to appear on stage and in photos with former President Trump at a campaign event last weekend.

Why it matters: Championing the support of rap artists has been part of Trump's Black outreach strategy for years. Last weekend was the second time this year Trump's campaign has put rappers front and center after New York drill artists Sleepy Hallow and Sheff G joined him on stage at a Harlem rally.

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• Trump introduced Miami rapper Lil Pump — mistakenly called "Lil Pimp" by the former president and local media — at a Grand Rapids rally in 2020 leading up to Election Day.
• He commuted the sentence of superstar Florida rapper and now vocal supporter Kodak Black and still has the support of Ye, formerly Kanye West.

The intrigue: Sada Baby , Icewear Vezzo and Peezy spoke highly of the recently convicted former president to reporters at Trump's roundtable inside the 180 Church off Grand River.

Catch up quick: For fans, their presence isn't a huge surprise. Two of the east-side natives — Vezzo and Peezy — appeared alongside independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when he visited in March .

• "F*** Joe Biden, I'm rocking with Trump," Peezy said in a February livestream after asking his followers to hook him up with Trump's limited-edition sneakers.

Rapper Sada Baby (right), whose real name is Casada Sorrell, meets Florida Republican Byron Donalds with his cousin, Marcelis Turner, a Republican candidate for state House in 2018.

What they're saying: "I feel like our votes should be worked for, I feel like our parents blindly voted for generations, but I think this generation is now understanding that we have to ask questions," Vezzo, 34, told Fox News this week.

• The rapper's Instagram post alongside the presumed Republican presidential candidate were filled with negative comments, with some support.

Context: "The east side had a supreme hustle mentality," local social worker and host of the Ask Jenn Show , Jennifer Onwenu , tells Axios. "It inherently works against the collective but they don't get that."

• "Their ability to turn nothing into something makes them believe societal conditions are a choice instead of systematic issues," Onwenu says.

Between the lines: Democrats have been trying to dispel the idea that Trump gave out "free money" — an argument that's been furthered in lyrics from rappers like Babyface Ray or comments from Sexyy Red and YG .

• Though Trump opposed stimulus checks that hit bank accounts in 2020, many have credited him for those funds, as well as Congress' Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which Trump signed into law.
• Nearly $200 billion in PPP loans were doled out improperly, landing a number of individuals, including popular rappers, in prison. Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency also paid out $8.5 billion in fraudulent claims.