Lil RT Does Little River: 9-Year-Old Rapper's Miami Show Spurs Nationwide Backlash, Conservative Outrage

Kids sure do grow up quick. One minute they're toddling around with a pacifier. Next thing you know, they're 9 years old, slapping a model's ass while rapping about blowjobs and murder.

Or maybe that coming-of-age trajectory is unique to rapper Lil RT.

Hailing from the West Atlanta community of Bankhead, the prepubescent performer has been turning heads since releasing "60 Miles," a single that has drawn condemnation, praise, or general befuddlement, depending on who's listening.

The NSFW lyrics sound all the more hardcore when spouted by a child too young to get into a PG-13 movie in a theater without being accompanied by an adult:

If she ain't suckin' dick, lil' bitch, you can get the fuck up out my shit
Hundred round, hit him with the Glock, take a fucker down
Hundred round, bitch, we in that Kia, we gonna take him down
Twelve get behind me, we gonna do 60 fuckin' miles

In late February, RT captured the attention of the masses for reasons beyond his verses.

During a live performance at a party in Miami's Little River neighborhood, the diminutive, elementary school-age MC could be seen slapping the jiggling derriere of a dancer and OnlyFans model dressed in a thong. Video of the event, which was promoted by local outfit Visionaries Hate Society, shows another dancer gyrating on Lil RT's crotch. The women cleared the way as the Lil one got a running start and lunged into the packed crowd in a viral stage-diving moment.
In the days that followed, the scene provided ample fodder for conservative podcast hosts.

In a YouTube segment, Christian commentator Candace Owens offered a play-by-play — "He's now being twerked on by strippers," she scoffed — and sought to link the concert to a campaign by "sinister, evil people that are trying to invade our souls with filth."

"Ice Spice and Taylor Swift — hard launch of these sorts of individuals that are rapping about farts and rapping about sex. Who's doing it? Who's funding it?" Owens demanded.

Owens has been critical of RT since his rise to YouTube fame with "60 Miles," claiming his lyrics "speak to the corrosion of our culture."

"You have Lil RT creating content on the internet talking about women performing sex acts on him, talking about running from the police, and there's no problem here?"

"He ain't seen rainbows and all this bullshit everybody be talking about."

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Those in the rapper's inner circle, on the other hand, contend that Lil RT is being villainized for reflecting what he's seen throughout his childhood.

"He's been like this. I can't even say it's his fault. This is just where he comes from," West Atlanta teen rapper Lil Tony said on a recent Breativity podcast, sitting next to Lil RT while discussing the controversy over his lyrics. "Can't blame little bro. He's from the hood. He ain't seen rainbows and all this bullshit everybody be talking about."
Nevertheless, posts about Lil RT's Miami gig were peppered with calls for child-protective services to investigate his mother and whoever allowed him to perform at the venue, with one commenter insisting, "This gotta be some form of child abuse."

"If it was a 9-year-old girl performing at a male strip club, this would be a whole different story."

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"If it was a 9-year-old girl performing at a male strip club, this would be a whole different story," a Christian commentator noted, arguing that a double standard was at play because Lil RT is a boy.

"This is clearly exploitation," a user added.

Much of the rapper's life played out in the public eye in recent months: his mom's hospitalization (which fans speculated was tied to a car accident), a financial dispute between his onetime manager and his family, and his beef with Candace Owens, who has been criticizing RT's mother and management since October. Lil RT has been featured in a string of popular podcast interviews, at times appearing shy and quiet and in other instances exhibiting a braggadocio more in tune with his boastful song lyrics.

He's had several recent tour dates in Florida stretching from a concert in Jacksonville in December 2023 to a show in Pensacola in mid-February.

New Times sought comment from Visionaries Hate Society, a management contact listed for Lil RT, and one of the dancers who performed at the Little River event but has not received any responses.

Visionaries Hate Society has yet to shy away from its role in promoting the event.

The outfit presented a polished video recap of Lil RT's performance on Instagram, which at one point shows Lil RT between two dancers with what appear to be bleeding eyes and devil horns superimposed over his visage — an image that, perhaps intentionally, was bound to rile up his Christian conservative critics.

The uproar over Lil RT's performance comes nearly two years after Gov. Ron DeSantis began a crusade against child attendance at drag performances in Florida. DeSantis and state regulators threatened to fine and revoke the liquor licenses of venues that admit minors to shows. The furor led the Republican-dominated legislature to pass a law making it a crime to bring a child into "adult live performances" that contain lewd content.

Owens and other pundits have zeroed in on Lil RT over the past six months — with Owens attempting to link the boy's risqué content to a large-scale conspiracy to corrupt the morals of American society. But that narrative hasn't gained traction to match the conservative-media hubbub over the drag shows.
Countless adolescent rappers have made waves with uncompromising lyrics in recent years. In South Florida, hip-hop fans witnessed the meteoric rise of YNW Melly and XXXTentacion, both of whom rapped about violence and dysfunction in their early teenage years.

Lil RT is significantly younger than those rappers were when they hit it big — and he appears to be generating much of his buzz through the novelty factor of a 9-year-old spouting explicit lyrics about sex and gun violence. (In a TikTok bit with collaborator Kai Cenat, the MC reveals he was born in June 2014.) One of his performances of "60 Miles" on YouTube now exceeds 4 million views.

As was the case with then-10-year-old Lil Tay (né Tay Tian), who drew in viewers by the million in 2018 with her profanity-laden flexes, young performers saying extreme things can quickly go viral. Questions about exploitation then inevitably arise regarding the branding and monetization of children who have yet to develop an act, not to mention an identity as an artist.

Back in 2013, police in Brockton, Massachusetts submitted a child abuse complaint against Luis Rivera, the father of elementary school-age rapper Lil Poopy, whose videos showed him rhyming about cocaine and guns and smacking female fans' butts. Child welfare officials did not pursue action against the family, though Rivera insisted he would tone down his son's content. The father was later arrested in a federal raid and convicted on a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

On Breativity, Lil Tony said he was trying to take Lil RT under his wing. He added that although he isn't RT's manager and can't control what the young MC is exposed to on the road, he would try to guide RT during their time collaborating in Georgia.

"When he's with me, I'm going to make sure he moves right. It ain't even what the internet thinks. All he does is play video games and make music," the Atlanta rapper said. "The internet is trying to make him out to be something he ain't. He's just a young nigga trying to get money for his family."