Chamillionaire Offers Financial Support to Michigan Man’s Family After His Deportation

By Lola Jacobs

Recently, two topics that one may never think of in tandem have crossed paths: Hakeem “Chamillionaire” Seriki and DACA. The rapper, best known for his 2005 hit, “Ridin’” may have been laying low for the past 13 years in terms of music, but he’s still active in other circles. He’s been navigating his way through the tech industry, saying very little while working on his plan to get wealthy, not rich, as he shared with Noisey last year. If you knew the background story for Seriki’s initial claim to fame, his retreat to Silicon Valley wouldn’t be too surprising at all.

The rapper is all about audience engagement, so he cut out the middleman and went straight to rewarding fans using gamification. For example, fans were rewarded with signed albums and merchandise for sharing his music videos, which essentially jettisoned the need for a record label and maximized his profits.

And he remained engaged. The Houston entrepreneur launched the Robin’s Heart Foundation for the victims of Hurricane Harvey last September. Seriki has resurfaced again to come to the aid of the family of 39-year-old Jorge Garcia, a man who was recently deported after 30 years in Michigan. The story has gotten a lot of attention since reporter Niraj Warikoo of Detroit Free Press covered the deportation extensively on Monday. Warikoo emphasized the ill-suited label, “criminal” as Garcia never had so much as a traffic ticket. If nothing else, the story is demonstrative of the Trump administration making good on their promise to zero in on “immigration reform.”

Having read the moving story, Seriki reached out directly to Warikoo with hopes that he could be put through to the Garcia family. Warikoo took a screenshot of the email and posted it to his Twitter, opening with, “This is not a joke,” embracing its incredibility.

But it’s true—Warikoo had the receipts to show it. Needless to say, the tweet went viral, but that’s not exactly what Seriki had in mind.

“I assumed this would be a private conversation, and I was hoping that I would be connected to the family, but unfortunately, neither happened,” Seriki said in an interview with Business Insider. “It looks like the story of this family’s unfortunate situation is gaining some traction, so at the least, I’m happy to see their story getting the attention that it deserves.”

Hopefully, Warikoo will connect Seriki with the Garcia family soon but he’s yet to supply a comment or status update on the matter.

This post Chamillionaire Offers Financial Support to Michigan Man’s Family After His Deportation first appeared on Vibe.