In a new interview with legendary music journalist Elliott Wilson, Freddie Gibbs opens up about the dangers of being a rapper following the death of Takeoff earlier this month. The late Migos member was shot to death on November 1 at a Houston bowling alley, causing strong reactions from the music community.
“This sh*t is very, very dangerous. It’s a very dangerous profession to be in,” Gibbs remarked during an interview on the Rap Radar podcast. Gibbs, who has had his own feuds with other rappers over the years, is speaking from his own lived experience:
“We just had another death, you know what I mean? That’s sickening to see somebody that made something of himself, made a Hall of Fame rap career and he can’t even celebrate it no more. All because of some petty sh*t. You know, I just look at that situation and look at a lot of the situations I’ve been in and overcame...that easily could have been me. And then the f**ked part about all of the sh*t in this rap game is, it’s like you got two choices: embarrassment or death.”
Gibbs then went into detail about what he meant:
“Now, with that incident that just happened, if somebody would have beat him up or something, maybe took pieces of his jewelry or something like that, y’all n***as would be making memes about that n***a today. ‘Oh wow, look at him, he got robbed.’ It’d be a f***ing meme. But he died. ‘Oh.’ It’s like, n***a, embarrass the f**k outta me cause I don’t want the death. But as a motherf***ing rapper, as an entertainer—especially a rapper—that’s the two f***ing choices you got: embarrassment or death.
New episodes of the Rap Radar podcast are available every Thursday.