LaKeith Stanfield Wants Black People To Stop Glorifying The "Dangerous Toxicity" Associated With Gangster Rap
BuzzFeed
2 min read
Earlier today, LaKeith Stanfield took to Instagram to vent his frustration and disgust with a particular music genre: gangster rap.
The 31-year-old actor and musician shared a note that read: "If you are for gangster rap, you can't also be for Black." The note was accompanied by a lengthy caption explaining why he believes the two shouldn't coexist.
"The dangerous toxicity associated with this glorified black serial killer and killed music, and imagery got people thinking it’s cool to hurt those that look like them and ONLY them," LaKeith wrote.
"It’s ok to embrace the realities of life in the harder areas, but let’s think about NOT holding up this behavior in our circles. Let’s make it cool to embrace life, travel, and learn new things!"
The Atlanta star went on to explain that although the Black community's decision to rid themselves of listening and making music that glorifies violence is just one small solution to the issues that plague our community, it's still a great place to start.
"At some level, we have to see our lives as valuable, so that we think before we react, and see another human when we look at a Human man."
"We must stop holding self-destructive shit up and embrace things that build us as a whole, so that we can lead the world in the direction of prosperity by example."
He concluded by adding "getting reckless" from time to time is a part of the natural human experience, but if you can, turn gangster rap off.
Some fans thought LaKeith was using the recent, senseless murder of Migos rapper Takeoff as the inspiration for this post, and ultimately called him out for it in the comments.
LaKeith responded by saying this topic goes way beyond an "isolated incident" and that he'd "never take the loss of a life as an opportunity to make a cheap point."
Reactions to LaKeith's post were split. Now I want to hear from you. How do you feel about what LaKeith wrote? Check out his full post below, and let us know in the comments.