Rapper DaBaby recently dropped the video for his song Save Me, a moving and controversial tribute to 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was fatally attacked on the Charlotte light rail. The video opens with real news footage and surveillance of the tragedy, then reenacts the moments leading up to the stabbing—with a fictional twist. In DaBaby’s version, he intervenes, preventing the attack, offering an imagined escape when in reality, no one helped.
Filmed partly on the Blue Line of Charlotte’s light rail, Save Me is framed with a strong moral weight. The video ends with the victim’s character walking away safely, before closing with a dedication to Zarutska, including a GoFundMe for her family.
The production sparked backlash in Charlotte because DaBaby didn’t get official permission to shoot in the transit setting, and local transit authorities confirmed their crews removed the filming crew. While some critics say the video risks sensationalizing tragedy, others argue it’s a bold act of witness and artistic
In the end, Save Me stands as one of DaBaby’s heaviest works—one that blurs lines between homage and fiction, raising questions about what responsibility artists have when recalling real pain.
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