A$AP Rocky Defends His Past Remarks About Black Lives Matter

When A$AP Rocky was jailed in Sweden last summer over assault charges, many brought up his past comments regarding the Black Lives Matter movement as the reason why they didn't sympathize with his plight. In a 2015 interview with Time Out New York, Rocky controversially said: "Why would I feel compelled to rap about Ferguson? I’m not about to say that I was down there throwing rocks at motherfuckers, getting pepper-sprayed. I’d be lying. Is it because I’m black? What the fuck, am I Al Sharpton now? I’m A$AP Rocky. I did not sign up to be no political activist. I wanna talk about my motherfuckin’ lean, my best friend dying, girls, my jiggy fashion and my inspirations in drugs. I live in fucking Soho and Beverly Hills. I can’t relate." 

Rocky has tried to clarify his stance on the matter before, but since people are still holding the above comment against him, he rehashed it on Kerwin Frost's YouTube series, "Kerwin Frost Talks". "I thought I addressed that in the past and to be in jail hearing people still trying to stir up some weird shit," Rocky said around the 53-minute mark. "What I will say though is in those old interviews I used to say 'I think it's inappropriate for me to rap about things I didn't help with. I felt like when it came to Ferguson, J. Cole went down there and he actually was on the news and he helped. I felt like he deserved to rap about it. So when someone ask me that in 2015 I'm like: 'I just feel, personally, if I'm in SoHo or I'm here I can't even talk on that'... That's appropriating. ... It's not sincere. It's pretentious."

During his conversation with Frost, Rocky also expressed support for Ian Connor, his former protege who has been accused of sexual assault by many women. "I heard of people doing some real fucked up shit. I can say that [Connor] gets picked on more than people think. A lot of it is cyberbullying," Rocky said.