Tyga has issued an apology to the Mexican community after receiving backlash for his new "Ay Caramba" video.
On Thursday (July 28), Tyga sat down with Los Angeles' Power 106 and Gill of the American Cholo podcast, in an interview explicitly done to address the rapper's latest Latin-themed visual, which has caused a stir with people accusing the California rhymer of cultural appropriation.
"When I dropped the video, I wasn't in L.A., I was in Europe. And then I started seeing a lot of people offended by it and I was kinda confused," Tyga said at the 3:50-mark of the interview. "That's why I didn't respond … I kinda, like, tried to do my research a little bit. I tried to ask a lot of the people that I grew up with that are Mexican."
In the video, Tyga plays multiple Mexican caricatures, including a fat man in a lowrider being rained on with tortilla chips.
"I've always done Latin records," Tyga continued. "When I've done something that was a Mexican record like 'Go Loko,' I wrote that song and I was like, this song is literally for the Mexicans I grew up with … I want to pay homage to them. This is what I seen growing up with friends of mine. When I made 'Go Loko,' that's what that was. I think with 'Ay Caramba,' I wasn't thinking, this is for the Mexicans I grew up with."
"At the end of the day, I'm not Mexican, so I can't say what Mexicans are offended by and not," Tyga added. "But I know I had no intentions of offending anybody. For one, I want to apologize to the Mexican community and my fans that are Mexican. I have a lot of Latin fans that are Puerto Rican, Dominican, that probably weren't offended by this video. But my Mexicans fans in L.A., there definitely were some that were offended."
Tyga's Collin Tilley-directed "Ay Caramba" video is littered with negative comments on YouTube.
"I swear someone should make a song called fried chicken with kool aid," one person noted.
"As A Mexicano from Compton this ain't it, as a Chicano from California this ain't it, as an Indigenous Native from Mexico is ain't it, as a foo from the streets from the hoods in Los Angeles this ain't it," another person posted.
The visual has over 4 million views on YouTube.