TAI’s latest EP ‘Indian Kill’ has received a backlash for it’s ‘racist’ and ‘ignorant’ name and artwork with the release being pulled from his own Soundcloud, the Dim Mak site and all digital stores.

Depicted is what looks to be a traditional Native American with an arrow through his forehead and what seems to be blood or tears dripping from his eyes.

Although personally we’re not too taken back (he’s European, Steve Aoki is of Asian decent, this wasn’t an intentional idea) it’s understandable that if an Aboriginal or any native of any country was illustrated as being ‘killed’ there’d be some up-roar.

TAI took to his Facebook for an official comment on the release “I fully apologize for the artwork, title, and sounds included in my recently released “Indian Kill” EP and take complete responsibility for any offense (sic) it may have caused. I currently have the release being removed from all sites.”

Further adding that anyone that knows him understands he’s not a racist and any money earned from the release will be donated to the “Native American Heritage Association.”

Drop The Lime back-peddled the most after remixing a track from the release saying he hadn’t seen any of the artwork or known the social roll-out of it… but knowing the name “Indian Kill’ you’d probably have a fair idea that’s pushing it already.

Anyway, track aside, what do you think about it all?

Update: official statement from Dim Mak

As TAI’s record label, we would like to address the recent release of the TAI “Indian Kill EP” and the controversy surrounding it.  First off, we would like to sincerely apologize for any offense this release has caused.  We at Dim Mak are a multi-cultural family, both in our artist roster and our company staff, and as people, it is not our intent to offend anyone by propagating negative cultural stereotypes.

So why did we release this EP?  It all comes down to one of our core company values:  we at Dim Mak require that our artists maintain their complete creative freedom.  As an indie label built out of a college bedroom over 15 years ago, we have been unbending on the complete freedom of expression that is at the essence of the DIY culture. We’ve never felt the need to question our artists’ creative vision, and in retrospect we see that was a mistake in this instance as the artist himself was not aware of the negative implications of the release that he delivered.  

Now that we’ve witnessed the earnest offense that the release of this EP has caused (especially in relation to an issue that is much more significant than a simple dance music single could ever be), we understand that there are some lines that cannot and should not be crossed. To put it simply, this situation forced us to take a long hard look at how we balance creative freedom with cultural sensitivity.

We at Dim Mak understand completely that a mistake was made.  As such, we, in conjunction with the artist TAI, are pulling the release from all stores, and we, along with TAI, are donating all proceeds from the sale of the release to the Native American Heritage Association.  http://www.naha-inc.org/

We sincerely apologize for any damage or ill will that this situation has caused. 

Sincerely,

Dim Mak