This past weekend during a performance at the Rolling Loud Festival held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, rapper DaBaby went an reported homophobic rant that stunned audience members. Now, fellow rapper T.I. – who is no stranger to controversy himself – is coming to his defense.
“If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases, then put your cellphone lighter up,” DaBaby, real name Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, announced during his performance. “Ladies, if your p***y smell like water, put your cellphone lighter up. Fellas, if you ain’t sucking d**k in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up.”
He then added that he was just “keeping it real.”
As if that wasn’t enough, DaBaby, whose set was scheduled right after Megan Thee Stallion, performed his verse on Megan’s hit song “Cry Baby,” then brought her alleged shooter Tory Lanez on stage disguised in a costume.
Not surprisingly, social media soon lit up with fans accusing the 29-year-old of homophobia, anti-HIV rhetoric, and misogyny. However, when the Shade Room posted about the incident, T.I stepped into the comments section to defend him.
“If Lil Nas X can kick his s**t in peace… so should dababy” he responded, along with an emoji of himself shrugging and the hashtag #equality.
“How he feels it’s necessary to jump in drama that has nothing to do with him all awhile going thru the things he’s going thru at his big age is very weird,” opined one reader.
“Da Baby is bashing/ judging people. Lil Nas X is expressing himself, how are these even in the same conversation?” inquired another.
To that reader’s point, while Lil Nas X prides himself on being a provocateur, he’s always maintained that his trolling comes with a message.
According to CBS News, last week the video for Lil Nas X’s new song, “Industry Baby,” included a donation banner allowing fans an opportunity to donate to The Bail Project, a nonprofit organization that pays bail for people in need, with the ultimate goal of ending the cash bail system entirely.
The new video, which features Lil Nas X playing several characters and being sentenced to jail in connection with his Nike lawsuit, raised over $40,000 in its first 48 hours up on YouTube.
“Music is the way I fight for liberation. But true freedom requires change in how the criminal justice system works, starting with cash bail,” the 22-year-old said in a statement in the donation box. “I know the pain that incarceration brings to a family, and I know the disproportionate impact that cash bail has on Black Americans. There are so many stories that call on us to take action, and I invite you to join me in this important civil right issue.”
The donations through Lil Nas X’s music video go directly to pay people’s bails, according to the organization.
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