Grace Toohey
The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.
A local rapper posted a music video online set at a Baton Rouge Fire Department station, showing the man wearing department gear and, at times, sitting inside and on the front of a fire truck — which fire officials said they did not allow and do not want circulating on the internet.
Baton Rouge fire spokesman Curt Monte said they want the video taken down, which he expects the Parish Attorney’s Office to handle. Monte said the rapper did not have permission to use the Coursey Boulevard fire station or any of the equipment in the video. Monte said they are investigating how the man got into the station.
The rapper, 27-year-old Baton Rouge native who goes by the name Eatem, said he has not been contacted by anyone asking him to take it down. He said he makes videos at many of the capital city’s locales and, like all his others, this was a well-meaning creation.
“I represent a good cause and a positive image,” Eatem said in an interview with The Advocate. “It for the youth, y’all.”
The video, called ‘FireHouse’ posted to the Instagram account _eatem on Monday, had almost 2,000 views Tuesday. While rife with foul language, the video mostly shows the rapper dancing in front of the fire station and around a fire truck while images of flames pop up on the screen. At one point in the almost 1-minute video, he pretends to drive the firetruck, and in another part, he uses a lighter to form a flame.
“So we gotta go for it all,” Eatem says while wearing a firefighter’s helmet and jacket, adorned with BRFD on the back. “If you ain’t lit then I suggest you don’t get involved.”
Eatem said his label is called T3:10 Muzic, which stands for the Bible verse Thessalonians 3:10: “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.’”
He said he went to the fire station to film the video and expected to ask permission, but no one came out so they began filming. He said their video-shoot lasted about five minutes, and at the end, some firefighters approached him, asking what he was doing and telling him he had to leave. Eatem said he explained what he was doing, even showing them some of the video. He said the firefighters were clear they did not want to be in the video, and none were.
Eatem’s account has more than 10,000 followers.
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