01 Dec Tooka’s Mother Tearfully Asks For “Smoking On Tooka” Meme To End

For some reason, the internet has popularized a meme that is extremely disrespectful about “smoking on” the ashes of a deceased rapper. Most recently, there have been comments on social media about people “smoking on King Von pack” after the rapper was killed in Atlanta. 

Gun violence remains an issue in Chicago, especially within the city’s rap community. Tooka, a 15-year-old boy who was murdered at the bus stop in Chicago, is one of the most commonly-referenced people in this meme, which was even used by King Von himself and Lil Durk. Tooka’s mother, as well as the mothers of slain rappers FBG Duck, Lil Mister, and Ray Ray, are officially speaking out about the violence in Chicago, as well as the harmful “smoking on Tooka” meme.

Seated at a roundtable with FBG Duck’s mother and others, Tooka’s mom tearfully asked people to stop using the meme.

“He got his nickname from the hospital,” explained Tooka’s mom. “They called him ‘Attitude,’ I shortened it up to ‘Tooka.’ … I don’t get how they could be intimidated by someone who was 15 years old and want to take a person and want to be making it into a strain of weed. Like how could you [say] ‘smoking on Tooka?’ Like where did that come from? Who smokes on a dead person? It makes me upset. Where does the level of disrespect stop? He’s already dead.”

She further explained that it’s been remarkably hurtful to continue reading comments like that.

“Tooka is a whole person. He’s not no strain of weed,” she said. “He had a mother and family out here. He had people that loved him dearly out here. So all this stuff, y’all talking about y’all ‘smoking on Tooka’ and dissing him, you can’t dance with the devil and expect God to forgive you. You can’t do that. It’s either-or.”

[via]