Andrew Schulz recently found himself in hot water when his comments about Kendrick Lamar fired up an intense debate within the hip-hop community. Things only worsened for him when the son of rap icon Ice Cube, O’Shea Jackson Jr., weighed in to call out Schulz’s behavior and advised him to look up “No Vaseline,” his father’s legendary diss track.
This started when he had a lyric in the latest album that many genuinely believed called out Schulz personally: Lamar rapped,
“Don’t let no white comedian talk about no Black women; that’s the law.”
He certainly took it personally since his eventual lashing out on the podcast Flagrant was charged with both defensiveness and its fair share of controversy in-jokes. Among his comments was a weird remark that he could “make love” to Lamar if they were alone—a statement that shocked many as being really out of place.
The backlash was immediate. Meek Mill was among the first to call out Schulz for disrespecting Black culture and crossing lines he never should have crossed. Mill took to social media to vent his frustration, emphasizing how serious Schulz’s comments were in a racial context.
Meanwhile, O’Shea Jackson Jr. expressed dismay of his own, referring to the comic as a “weird ass n****” – an artist who was trending through a worrying change in approach to comedy. The reference with which Jackson invoked Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline” carried weight because the diss track is merciless regarding the takedowns of the persons who betrayed him once he left N.W.A.
Ice Cube’s 1991 single “No Vaseline” is considered one of hip-hop’s most scathing diss tracks. Released in response to Cube’s former bandmates and their manager, the song’s raw lyrics targeted exploitation, betrayal, and hypocrisy. By invoking the track, Jackson drew a parallel between Schulz’s remarks and the behavior that demands accountability.
Schulz wasn’t apologizing. He framed the backlash as an attack on comedy and freedom of speech. He called Lamar a hypocrite since he once collaborated with Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park, notorious for pushing sensitive boundaries. As Schulz sees it,
“If you can work with them and then come at comedians for attempting to be edgy, that’s a double standard.”
This was not the first time Schulz’s humor got him in hot water. In an earlier episode of his podcast, he joked that stereotypes of Black women were hysterical and impossible to handle. He said these relationships made white men shave their heads from stress and grow beards to protect themselves. These comments played into the damaging trope of the “angry Black woman” and sparked outrage online.
Even Schulz’s guests later apologized for laughing along with his jokes, regretting that they should have fought back. The criticism of Schulz isn’t just about bad jokes; it’s about the deeper impact of perpetuating stereotypes. Many feel that humor like his isn’t harmless but reinforces narratives that have long marginalized Black people, particularly women. The hip-hop community’s reaction reflects a growing insistence on accountability, even for comedians who traditionally operate with few boundaries.
Public opinion is divided. The Schulz supporters argued that comedy’s supposed to push the bounds and make people uncomfortable:
“If we can’t joke about difficult topics, where do we draw the line?”
one supporter questioned online. Others countered: Humor doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it can’t be abstracted from its aftermath.
“Free speech doesn’t mean freedom from criticism,”
one user wrote.
Artists like Jackson and Mill made it crystal clear that they viewed Schulz’s comments as not only offensive but also emblematic of something much bigger: it’s Black culture, and you should respect that andn’t let someone outside of the culture come and belittle that in the name of humor. This controversy only cemented what his fans saw as proof of the power and precision in Lamar’s lyrics.
