‘You Want $20? So Rap’: Fans Rush to Defend Keith Murray After Shocking Video Shows Him Seemingly Disoriented and In Need of $20
A TikTok user named @madelineclopez1 captured footage of popular New York rapper Keith Murray appearing to be under the influence and in need of money. Now the content creator is receiving a wave of backlash for exploring the rap legend while he’s down.
The one-minute video begins with Lopez approaching Murray, standing outside of what appears to be a motel or apartment building. The Def Jam artist, formerly known as “The Most Beautifulest Thing In The World,” requested not to be filmed while simultaneously asking her to help him out.
The Def Squad member puts his hands up to stop her and says, “Don’t film me.”
“Don’t film you?” she asks while walking closer to him. As he murmurs, she says to her followers, “Guys, look who it is. It’s Keith Murray!”
Calmly but with a quake in his voice, Murray asks, “Why are you filming me?”
“Why?” she said rhetorically while approaching the rapper, “’Cause you’re famous. You’re cool. Do you want money?”
Murray says, “Yes.” Then she asks him how much he wants. He replies that he will take as much as she is willing to give him. When she tells him that she will give him $20 and he agrees, she springs a caveat to the donation.
“So let me just record you real quick,” Lopez bartered while getting Murray to confirm that he is indeed the “Get Lifted” rapper.
“Why are you recording me?” he said, his hand up and blocking his face from the camera.
“Cause you’re Keith Murray, OK!” she continued before demanding, “Can you sing something? Can you sing rap or something? You want $20? So rap.”
In the video, Murray didn’t appear like his normal self. He was not dressed in designer digs but in a stretched-out white T-shirt and oversized jeans. His speech was slurred, and he seemed confused and under the influence.
Immediately upon catching wind of the clip, fans on social media criticized Lopez, accusing her of recording the rapper while he was in distress to go viral. They condemned her for admitting that her motive for filming him was solely because of his fame.
People on social media were furious at her video, condemning the woman for videotaping the star. The backlash was so massive that she took down the video from TikTok, but not before others downloaded it.
“Can we talk about Keith Murray for a minute? I’m more pissed off at the woman recording. It’s hard to see him this way. One of the greatest MCs of our time,” one person wrote on the X platform.
Another person tweeted, “It’s like the Delonte West situation no one was trying to help just record use them for clout,” referring to the former NBA player whose struggles with addiction and vagrancy have become public.
Very much like the Delonte West story.
— 🦋 Bel Papiyon 🦋 (@reignofglitter) March 23, 2024
“Whoever recorded this is wicked,” a TikToker wrote in one of the viral videos floating around on the internet. Another replied, “This is wicked he asked her stop, why embarrass him like that?”
Lopez played into the wicked label placed on her by uploading a selfie video of herself with a devil’s horns filter applied to it. She also said that despite all of the pressure she has received over the past few days, she is staying on the platform.
“I love u guys, not leaving,” she captioned the video.
@madelineclopez1 #onthisday #oldvideo ♬ original sound – Madelineclopez1
“That’s a shame. I’m a big Keith Murray fan it breaks my heart to see him like this,” a fan commented.
One person simply did not believe it was the 1990s emcee, sharing a video of Murray performing in Baltimore weeks ago.
“This was him this month. I don’t believe that video up there is him,” he tweeted.
Murray has been open about his past addictions. In an April 2023 interview with DJ Self, he was asked if there was any truth that he could not be around any alcohol, and he confirmed it in his unique way.
“A drug is a drug is a drug,” said Murray. “Everybody has their own ticker. That is between God, you and your people, and your caregivers and your investors.”
DJ Self continued, “There was a time where you … I do you remember a time you did say that you were using drugs.”
Murray interjected, “I am practicing sobriety now.”
When asked how that was going for him, he said that it was “Going well. Very well.”
This is not the first time someone has recorded Murray behaving strangely. In June 2023, a video of Murray went viral after being reposted by Lord Jamar. In the video, Murray is seen wandering the streets with his tongue out, beer in one hand, a marijuana cigar in another, and flailing his arms. A man yells “Yo, Keith!” from his vehicle, but the rapper completely ignores him.
“Our brother @keithmurrayrap obviously needs serious help….I don’t have to see this man do drugs in front of me to know he’s on drugs,” Lord Jamar said in his Instagram caption. “Dude crossed a line with me, that I believe if he wasn’t on drugs he wouldn’t have crossed, so I forgive him. We need to get our brother clean, cause this is a horrible look.”
Weeks later, Keith Murray addressed the video on “MRECKNRIP” with hosts Mrecktv and Sensei RIP.
“Somebody got some footage of me, and they tried to assassinate my character, but at the same time, they should’ve played it after BET — made it seem like it was current or something because BET was spectacular. I’m getting a lot of positive feedback,” he said.
The rapper went on to claim that the clip was not recent and questioned Lord Jamar’s motives for sharing the video.
“It was before. Some footage that some people that I don’t know got old footage and tried to bring it out, but God is on my side, and I don’t really talk about negativity,” he said. “Why didn’t they post my BET performance? Whoever those people were. Why didn’t Lord Jamar talk about how gracefully I rocked the stage?”
Murray has not yet commented on the most recent video footage shared by Madeline Lopez.