Long.Live.FREE.A$AP
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July 20, 2019
OPINION | LONG.LIVE.FREE.A$AP
By Michael Wayne Carter
I am just going to tell you a story. It’s a story about two rappers, one of which is retired. So actually… it’s a story about one rapper, a rapper turned podcaster, another prominent podcaster, a President, and the country of Sweden.
On June 30th, while on a European tour, A$AP Rocky was involved in an altercation.
Of course there’s two sides to every story and the video shows A$AP Rocky trying to defuse the situation. The video also shows A$AP Rocky beating the brakes off a kid who A$AP Rocky says followed his group and threw headphones at his security. The video’s presence on social media spread like wildfire and on July 3rd after performing at the SMASH festival, A$AP Rocky voluntarily went to police for questioning and was subsequently arrested.
It wasn’t long before reports started surfacing about the treatment A$AP Rocky was receiving while being detained. There are claims the rapper was being held in solitary confinement and while there was plenty of support, there were also people quick to mention a moment from the rappers past where in an interview with TIMEOUT, New York the rapper stated:
“I don’t wanna talk about no fucking Ferguson and shit because I don’t live over there! I live in fucking Soho and Beverly Hills. I can’t relate. I’m in the studio; I’m in the fashion studios; I’m, in these bitches’ drawers. I’m not doing anything outside of that. That’s my life.”
The loudest of these pundits being Crissle of the READ podcast, who pointed out A$AP Rocky’s comments and suggested he handle his legal issues himself. This in turn led to rapper-turned-podcaster, Joe Budden, calling Crissle a “nasty ass bum ass homegirl” for bringing up A$AP Rocky’s past in his time of need. This led to the inevitable clap back from Crissle:
“Lmfaoooooo I know all about how Budden’s bitch ass is STEAM pressed over me and our show. Nigga oughta be glad I paved the way for him.”
AND
“I am not talking about his goofy ass on my bigger, longer, running, more money making, coming to TV this fall show. He can get these tweets though.”
So with all this division on social media and rappers threatening to boycott Sweden, who could possibly be the unifying force to resolve this international incident? None other than Donald J Trump. Who has had one of the most disastrous weeks of his presidency after stating US representative Ilhan Omar should go back to where she came from, a codded phrase from the white supremacist hand book.
It’s time to show the world the President of the United States isn’t racist by helping get a black person out of jail. Now, I could give you a list of reasons why one might assume Donald Trump is racist like the numerous discrimination lawsuits or the birtherism stuff. If Donald Trump wants to get wrongly incarcerated black people out of jail, I’ll support him all the way. Only caring about the wrongly incarcerated when you can use black people as political pawns might lead one to believe the President is a racist. So is A$AP Rocky being made an example of by Sweden for being a celebrity? Probably. Does Joe Budden have a point about not letting someone’s past affect his or her future? Probably. Does Crissle have a point about A$AP Rocky’s past? Probably. Should the President of the United States be more concerned with actual justice reform, from policing to prisons, instead of a celebrity caught up in some BS? Definitely. At the time of this post, ASAP Rocky is still being held in Sweden and one of the top twitter trends is #APRocky. I swear I couldn’t make this up, if I tried. Ya’ll have a great weekend. Peace.
#A$APROCKY #APRocky #Sweden #smashfestival #joebudden #theread #crissle #donaldtrump #ferguson #hiphop #hiphoppodcast #IlhanOmar #whitesupremacist #internationalnews #timeout #solitaryconfinment #birtherism #justicereform