Rapper Meek Mill appeared to hit back at critics who accused him of making a disrespectful reference to the late Kobe Bryant in his latest track.
Mill appeared to reference the tragedy in his most recent song, a collaboration with Lil Baby entitled "Don't Worry (RIP Kobe)."
The track, which is yet to be officially released and only surfaced online last week, contains the lyrics: "Yeah, and if I ever lack, I'm goin' out with my chopper, it be another Kobe."
The words seemingly leave little room for interpretation and were taken as a reference to the fatal accident that claimed Bryant's life on January 26 last year.
The Los Angeles Lakers legend was killed along with eight other people, including his 13-year-old daughter, when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed in Calabasas, California, northwest of Los Angeles.
Mill, however, firmly pushed back on the criticism.
"I don't think we on the same signal y'all ... I don't see what y'all see... I be looking at the net laughing like I did whet," the 33-year-old rapper wrote on Twitter.
"I say random s**t all day on social [media] ... It becomes a trend to hate on me every once in a while but I feed off that s**t ima [sic] beast literally."
I don’t think we on the same signal y’all .. I don’t see what y’all see... I be looking at the net laughing like I did whet 🙃 I say random shit all day on social ... it becomes a trend to hate on me every once in a while but I feed off that shit ima beast literally 💎
— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) February 23, 2021
Earlier, Mill had posted a series of tweets in which he also appeared to be dismissive of the criticism he received.
One of the tweets read: "I'm going back savage in this s**t... f**k ya feelings!"
While it is unclear whether his social media outburst was aimed at anyone in particular, Mill's tweets came hours after Bryant's wife, Vanessa, had called him out on social media for the choice of lyrics.
"Dear @meekmill, I find this line to be extremely insensitive and disrespectful. Period," Bryant wrote in an Instagram story on Monday night.
"I am not familiar with any of your music, but I believe you can do better that this. If you are a fan, fine, there's a better way to show your admiration for my husband. This lacks respect and tact."
Earlier this month, federal investigators ruled the crash that claimed Bryant's life was entirely preventable and concluded Ara Zobayan, the Island Express charter pilot, had made a series of crucial errors.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board said Zobayan had become disoriented after climbing into the clouds, before making a fatal descending left turn into the hillside the helicopter crashed into.
NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt said Zobayan's decision to continue the flight despite the inclement weather proved disastrous, adding the helicopter could have landed at a nearby airport "all the way up to the point where [the pilot] entered the clouds."
NTSB vice chairman Bruce Landsberg added the incident was considered a crash, rather than an accident.
"This pilot really wanted to get where he was going [...]
"An accident (is) just something that's unforeseen, unpredictable, if you will. Unfortunately this wasn't."
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