Local rapper posts picture of controversial album cover displaying faces of men killed in Jacksonville

Alex Bowman, Police Reporter

Featured graphic courtesy of: News4Jax

A local rapper recently posted a picture of his album cover featuring the faces and names of men killed in Jacksonville, according to News4Jax. The Jacksonville rapper has since removed the controversial photo from his Instagram account, but not before the image was spread across social media.

One of the men featured on the album cover was Zion Brown, who was killed in a triple shooting in Jacksonville back in 2017.

Benetta McFadden, Brown’s mother, told News4Jax she is outraged by the photo.

“It hurts my heart to see my son on there,” McFadden said. “You’re tormenting victims of these kids. Like, I’m a victim and, every other kid on there, their parents are victims, as well.”

McFadden said, two years after Brown’s death, her daughter was targeted and shot 14 times but survived.

While the album cover isn’t linked to a crime, crime and safety specialist Ken Jefferson, of News4Jax, said it’s possible the album cover could be connected to gangs.

“Sometimes, here, locally, the rap music, the lyrics to the rap music is linked to crimes. Sometimes, the artist, or the person performing the rap song, is linked to a group or a gang,” Jefferson said. “They basically show and tell, which is a great help to the police.”

McFadden told News4Jax another man featured on the album cover, Caleb Sheffield, was arrested due to connection to her daughter’s shooting in May but was released just 18 days after being sent to jail.

McFadden wants her son’s face taken off the album cover.

Police have yet to confirm if the rapper is connected to the murder of Brown or any of the other victims, according to News4Jax.

There seem to be varying opinions on the album cover on Facebook and Twitter. While the majority of people sympathize with McFadden, there are a few people who have different opinions on the matter.

A lot of people commented asking why the rapper would even think it was okay to put the faces of these men on his cover without permission to do so. Some said something along the lines of “there are plenty of good rappers who aren’t involved in a crime, why even pay attention to this guy?” Others blame rap music for both Brown’s death and McFadden’s daughter’s shooting.

There are also those saying it’s okay for the rapper to use the photo, especially if the music is about preventing crime. Many asked why News4Jax even covered the story because in their opinion, it only helped promote the problem.

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