(THREAD)

CW abuse

So I talked about this once on a radio interview or a Q&A I think, but my song “STAAR” is about Lil Tay, a CHILD, being put in front of a camera & essentially told by her mom to mimic Black culture, acting out a caricature of Black rappers & influencers.

In 2018, Vice reported that Angela Tian, Lil Tay’s mother, used to be a real estate agent & would use the houses her former firm owned as a backdrop for some of the videos they made. After they found out, she resigned (they were going to fire her anyway). https://www.vice.com/en/article/435ya3/lil-tays-videos-got-her-mom-fired-from-her-real-estate-job-report

That article was what inspired the whole song “STAAR”. Talking about a mother who would exploit the resources from her job, an entire culture, & her own child all for fame & money.

But it’s gotten worse since that article came out.

Now Lil Tay’s father, Chris Hope, & his new wife, Hanee Hope, are living off of money that Lil Tay got from all of this. On her instagram @/liltay (which is being run by her brother rn), they are saying that Chris hasn’t paid child support, & has stolen “everything from her.”

Cw assault & abuse

On the Lil Tay instagram, they show videos of Tay crying after being told her father, Chris, is trying to demand custody & financial control over Tay & her “career”. They show photos of Tay red in the face & on her back from being physically assaulted.

From what I understand, because Chris & Hanee have stolen a bunch of money from Lil Tay & her mom, they don’t have the ability to afford legal fees for a lawyer who could go up against the type of lawyer you can buy with Chris’ stolen money.

A post with Lil Tay as the persona that made her famous hasn’t been posted since 2018, so I may be wrong, but I assume that the persona has been retired or at least paused.

There are discussions to be had about the nature of how this all happened. The promise of fame, how easy it is to get when you’re already rich, there are the issues of neglect, abuse, exploitation of so many people & groups, but at the center of it all is... just a child.

& now her ability to get the help she needs in order to BE a child & grow up in a not physically abusive environment is stifled by the fact that her moneys been stolen by her father, trying to get custody of her, supposedly so he can make more money off of her image.

I say all of this because I feel a responsibility to promote Tay’s story & gofundme after making a song about her, and effectively profiting off of it, no matter how small.

A CHILD should not have to be dealing with this. A CHILD should not have to go through this type of abuse & manipulation.

http://saveliltay.com