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ASAP Rocky fans threaten Ikea boycott over Sweden assault case

US fans of rapper A$AP Rocky have issued a call to arms, including meatball moratoriums and an end to binges at Ikea, in protest at Swedish moves to put him on trial for assault.

Published: 27 July 2019 10:55 CEST
ASAP Rocky fans threaten Ikea boycott over Sweden assault case
Photo: Fredrik Persson/TT

With Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven rebuffing President Donald Trump's entreaties to intervene in the case, Americans took to Twitter to call for boycotts of the country and its global commercial icons — first and foremost the do-it-yourself home furnishing mart Ikea.

Many appeared inspired by a Trump tweet Thursday that declared: “We do so much for Sweden but it doesn't seem to work the other way around.”

That sparked a rash of retweets with the #boycottsweden hashtag, singling out Swedish brands from Absolut Vodka and Volvo to Spotify.

“Let me be the first to encourage folks to boycott Ikea until A$AP Rocky is freed. Though having said that I am sure if Rocky's jail cell is anything like my bookcase he could bust out,” tweeted triathlon coach John Bryan.

On Thursday a Swedish court ordered Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, put on trial for assault after his arrest for a July 3rd brawl.

One video of the incident suggests that Rocky, 30, and his bodyguards were harassed by two local men for some time before fighting erupted, and the rapper said it was self-defense.

That has stoked a outpouring of anger from fans, but also the occasional pithy comment from wags wondering if Rocky might have to assemble his own furniture in his Swedish cell.

Others called him lucky to have the chance to eat Ikea's famous meatballs.

Sweden wasn't immediately facing any significant economic fallout from the calls for boycotts, however. None of those urging a moratorium on Swedish goods had substantial followings or were major public figures.

And as popular as it is, most people who shop at Ikea go only once in several months.

But the pressure could grow, if Twitter is any indication.

Another hashtag on heavy rotation was #JustSayNoToPickledHerring and one social media user claimed Trump was considering a lingonberry levy.

 READ ALSO: Swedish politicians slam Trump over ASAP Rocky case

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CRIME

C.Gambino: Who is the Grammis-winning rapper shot dead in Gothenburg?

On May 4th, masked rapper C.Gambino was on stage to receive a Grammis award for the best Swedish hip-hop artist. A month later on Tuesday, he was gunned down in a Gothenburg car park.

Published: 5 June 2024 14:54 CEST
C.Gambino: Who is the Grammis-winning rapper shot dead in Gothenburg?

What happened? 

According to police, the 26-year-old rapper was ambushed by one, or perhaps two, gunmen as he entered a carpark near the Hisings Backa district north of Gothenburg, at about 10.40pm on Tuesday. He was rushed to hospital in an ambulance with at least two bullet-wounds, but died shortly after arrival. 

The rapper lived in the district, which is classed as a “vulnerable area” by national police, and had just parked his car at the time he was shot. 

Police say the assailants escaped in a silver Volvo V70 car.

The Expressen newspaper reported on Wednesday that police had raided an apartment in Gothenburg after the shooting. 

READ ALSO: ‘Supply and demand, motherfxxker!’: The real crime behind Sweden’s gangster rap

Who was C.Gambino? 

C.Gambino, whose real name was Karar Ramad, was one of Sweden’s leading rappers, with about a million listeners a month on Spotify.

His latest release, whose title Sista Gång, meaning “last time”, is rather macabre in retrospect, has been streamed 700,000 times on Spotify since it was released on Friday. 

Adopting the practice of the UK drill rap genre, Gambino always wore a mask for publicity photos, for music videos, in concerts and other public appearances.

The rapper came to the attention of hip hop fans in 2019 with his track Rebell. His debut album, Sin City, hit number two on the Sverigetopplistan of most sold records in 2022, primilarly on the back of its two main hit tracks, M5 and CCTV. 

His second album, In Memory of Some Standup Guys, was one of the most popular releases of early 2024, helping to win the rapper the Hip Hop of the Year award in the Grammis, Sweden’s oldest music prize, on May 4th. 

C.Gambino is not to be confused with Childish Gambino, the rap name of the US actor Donald Glover, although both presumably took the name from the Gambino crime family, which is one of the notorious “Five Families” that comprise the New York mafia. 

Was C.Gambino a criminal? 

Diamant Salihu, crime reporter for Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT, said that he had information that the rapper had “certain gang connections”, and had been found guilty of some minor crimes, but stressed that he seems to have focused on his music career. 

“He does feature in the crime register but he primarily devoted himself to the music,” Salihu told the broadcaster. 

Police in Gothenburg told the Expressen newspaper on Wednesday that they were investigating whether the shooting was connected to the long-running conflict between gangs in the northern and southern parts of the Biskopsgården suburb.  

The Aftonbladet newspaper, reported that the 26-year-old had a ran a joint business with a man police believe is a member of the Norra Biskop group, and who has previously been found guilty of gang crime offences. 

“I can only say that he is known to us from before, and there is a network connection. But I don’t want to give any more details than that,” Thomas Fuxborg, from the Gothenburg Police, told the newspaper. 

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