Drake's Dad Dennis Graham Celebrates Aunt Jemima's Retirement

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Dennis Graham chimes in after brands like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Bens discontinue their racist branding.

The history of some of America's favorite brands has incredibly racist connotations to it. And even though many of them have been selling products as household staples for over a century, it's only been in the past two weeks that they've decided to actually change this. 

Drake's dad, Dennis Graham, chimed in on the racist branding of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben's. Sharing a meme to Instagram of Aunt Jemima flipping the middle finger, the post read, "Happy Retirement. 1889-2020. Make your own damn pancakes!" Graham captioned the post, "She was chained to a table by the ankle while she was cooking." When someone commented, "Aint ya mama was chained to a table while cooking," Graham simply responded, "Exactly."

But it was another post that Graham shared detailing some disturbing history about racist branding in Memphis, specifically. Aughinbaugh Canning Company sold "Negro Head" branded canned seafood which Graham explained use to be in every grocery store back in the day.

"A lot of you are too young to remember this but they had this shit in all grocery stores back in the day," he wrote. "Black people didn’t eat these because they were considered a delicacy and only sold at your upper echelon stores,Sessel’s in Memphis Tennessee."

What Graham didn't mention is that the brand was initially called "N***er Head" before the NAACP pressured them to change it. Those changes occurred in 1962.


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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