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The city of Detroit is on a high as the Detroit Lions are only one more win away from their first ever Super Bowl appearance.
As a city with a team that once went 0-16, the current success has most native Detroiters feeling proud and a little emotional. This is why when Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back, Rachaad White did “The Blade Dance” after scoring a touchdown against the Lions during Sunday’s Lions-Bucs divisional round matchup—the city responded with outrage.
Complete disrespect wow pic.twitter.com/Y7VXQhvzEG
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 21, 2024
Detroiters have also flooded White’s Instagram comments going in about the perceived “disrespect.”
White later told M-Live reporter Kory Woods that he learned about Icewood from teammate Will Gholston who is from the Detroit area. White is from Kansas City. “(Gholston) did it one time. He got a sack when we played somebody in Tampa. And I was asking him about the dance. I thought it was cool,” White told MLive. “And then he just basically filled me in on where it was from, who it was from and stuff like that. So the biggest thing is they can say what they want to say, but it wasn’t disrespect; it was to pay homage.”
The rapper’s son, known as Lil Blade, responded with a selfie on Instagram, writing, “Idk if I should be happy or irritated @detroitlionsnfl.”
Icewood, considered one of the forefathers of Detroit street rap, popularized the dance with his most successful single, “Boy Would You (Boss Up and Get This Money). Born Darnell Lindsay, Icewood was part of a rap group called The Street Lordz and was slain in a hail of gunfire at the age of 28 in 2005.
The rapper’s life was documented in an episode of TV One’s Sins of the City last year.
The Lions ultimately won the game and are one win away from their first Super Bowl appearance. They take on the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Jan. 28 in the Bay.
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