In a new interview with Rolling Stone, CHIKA revealed that the recent drama involving T.I. and Tiny’s granddaughter almost had fatal consequences amid her mental health struggles.
“I feel like people used that moment as a reason to dog pile. It was completely blown out of proportion,” she said. “I have a lot of thoughts on that, actually. I think that any other person on this fucking planet being frustrated and venting like that would never be taken as “harshly” as everyone else took it.”
“I’ve always been a very vocal and creatively worded person. When everyone’s in a good mood, everyone understands that I’m being hyperbolic, but when it’s this thing where there’s a hill to die on, people will take the shit that I say and make it literal so that they can make a character indictment. The way that I speak has always been colorful. I’m literally a rapper,” Chika continued. “So, when I’m upset, instead of lashing out, especially in person and to people, the way that I handle it is by being as colorful and extra with the way that I talk because I’m getting those emotions out. I’m going to tell you all how I feel right now. I’m pissed at this person, and I hope [they] get a paper cut between every single finger. That’s how I talk.”
Last month, the Alabama-based rapper took to Twitter to vent about a pair of twin babies that were seated near her on a first-class flight. Sometime during the flight, the babies allegedly began crying, which triggered a visceral reaction from the rapper, filled with derogatory terms and insults.
“To the lady next to me who thought it would be a good idea to buy yourself and your twin infants first class seats on a red-eye flight, who just woke me up by bringing your screaming bastard to OUR seats to soothe her, I just bought $34 Wi-Fi at 4 a.m. to call you a stupid bitch,” she wrote.
However, as it turned out, the babies were not twins but cousins, one of which belonged to Zonnique Pullins, Tiny and T.I.’s daughter.
After facing backlash from Tiny, Zonnique, and most of social media for her attack, the rapper claimed she wasn’t sorry for the comments and even doubled down on her stance.
“And that’s why it’s STILL fuck your kids. I complained (rudely) for a real reason. You and your busted-ass nanny just chose to be trash & lie on the internet. again, choke,” she said.
But despite the backlash, Chika believes this entire ordeal was a mental health crisis that was victimless and blown out of proportion.
“I’ve been publicly going through it and talking about being in a manic episode and dealing with my mental health and trying to figure it out. I was on the way home to my parents the day before I had hit my therapist and was like, ‘Yo, for the first time in a year, I have had a suicidal thought.’ That’s the day I flew out. It just so happened that there was a celebrity child involved. I didn’t know they was fucking famous; I just knew that the baby next to me was kicking me and screaming, and I vented about it like a regular person. I do this victimless thing in the midst of a mental health crisis that I’ve been open about, and I’ve talked about, and then the entire world is like, oh, this person is vile. In my head, it wasn’t even a turning point because I’m used to [this]. When it was blowing up, I was like, here we go again. It’s happened to me several times. It didn’t feel like a turning point in the conversation. It felt like what the internet is going to do. The internet is going to internet, and there is no room for empathy and grace unless it’s for somebody else,” she said.
“You’re plus size, dark-skinned, vocal, and not apologetic. It’s even worse for you. At that point, I had no real reason to even approach anyone else with grace when I don’t get handled that way. If I tell people what I’m going through, they’re like, ‘Oh, she’s using her mental health as an excuse.’ There was no conversation about what it looks like to be in a manic state and not to have slept for 48 hours, and you get on a plane thinking that you’re going home to your parents and you’re going to take a nap and wake up and instead, there is a child next to you kicking and screaming,” Chika continued, adding that, ” There’s a lot of moving parts there that people wanted to ignore in order to have a different conversation, so I allowed them to. If I were to have read into it any further, it would’ve killed me, and it almost did. So ultimately, just let that conversation happen and let people think what they want to think because who I am is going to shine through all of that shit anyway.”
As for being a victimless attack, Chika said it wouldn’t have gotten to the victim if the internet hadn’t gotten involved. But ultimately, she did take accountability for saying it, but still refused to take it back.
“The reason it got back to them was because it was taken out of this isolated thing and blown up to begin with. So let’s say there wasn’t this reaction. This would’ve never gotten back to them. That’s the point,” she said. “So yes, the things that I take accountability for [are] the fact that I said it, and I meant it when I said it because I’m allowed to be that person. When it comes down to it, what I was saying at that time, literally did not harm anybody. How is it that my engagement could be low as fuck, and as soon as I say something that has nothing to do with nobody on the internet, it blows up so much so that it gets back to that person? I feel like the internet and people who have questions about this need to take accountability for their part in it, even getting back to them.”
“Are you living your life thinking about everybody else, or are you choosing to live your life knowing that even when you say nice shit, it’s taken out of context? I’m not about to sit here at age 26 and let the world dictate how I communicate,” she said. “I got a DM from Ari Lennox. We’re good friends. She was like, “Yo, we all know that you’re being hyperbolic. We all know that you aren’t a mean person, and you’re getting your anger out by joking. Just apologize because they see it differently than we who know you do.” And I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t want to feed into that type of world where people can’t be themselves or communicate. It’d be better if you asked me what I meant than for you to assume and then ask me to apologize. ‘Cause what the fuck am I apologizing for at that point?
“I made my entire career on Twitter,” she continued. “I made my entire career by being myself on the internet. The tides have changed now, they’ve turned, and there’s a way that people respond to certain things now that is not how it was, and it’s not how it’s been historically, but in those moments, I’m not considering that. I want to go home. I’m tired. I have not slept. I cannot eat. I just had therapy a couple hours ago, and I’m venting because I’m on my last fucking leg.
“By the way, babies are allowed to be bitches. They’re babies. In a moment where I’m about to snap, instead, I [made] it about why would you expect a child to shut the fuck up at this hour?”
