Elon Musk released a rap song titled “R.I.P. Harambe” under Emo G Records on SoundCloud on March 30. Image: AFP/Mark Ralston
Innovator Elon Musk had recently released a rap song called “R.I.P. Harambe”, referring to the internet meme which went viral in 2016.
The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive officer, known for his Twitter jokes, released the song under “Emo G Records” — a play on the word “emoji” — on music streaming platform SoundCloud on March 30, two days before April Fools’ Day.
It is unclear whether the billionaire sang the rap song himself; however, an auto-tuned voice sang the lyrics: “R.I.P. Harambe/Sipping on some Bombay/We on our way to heaven/Amen, Amen.”
The almost two-minute track mentions Harambe, a gorilla in the Cincinnati Zoo who was killed when he dragged a 3-year-old boy who climbed into his enclosure in 2016. The incident made the gorilla the subject of debates about killing animals in light of animal behavior, and of internet memes which circulated around the same year.
The rap song also made reference to smoking marijuana with the lyrics, “R.I.P. Harambe/Smoking on some strong/In the gorilla zoo/And we thinking about you.”
Last year, the entrepreneur had been under fire for posting a misleading tweet about hiking up the price for Tesla shares to $420, with the number “420” supposedly being only a reference to marijuana. This has caused him to step down as Tesla chairperson and pay a $20 million fine. Musk, however, said it was “worth it,” in a Twitter post last October.
“R.I.P. Harambe” now has about 1.7 million plays on SoundCloud since it was uploaded.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s Wikipedia page has been updated by user Terakonin, which now sees Musk described as “a technology entrepreneur, investor, engineer and rapper.” Casey Eridio/JB
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