Rapper T.I. stepped in to defend rapper DaBaby after homophobic comments during his performance at Rolling Loud.
T.I. said DaBaby has every right to voice his opinion while comparing his rant to Lil Nas X’s explicit new “Industry Baby” video. “If you gonna have the Lil Nas X video and him living his truth, you gonna damn sure have people like DaBaby who gonna speak their truth,” he said. “Ain’t nothing wrong with none of it, it ain’t got to be no hate — it’s all honesty. Everybody living in their truth.”
DaBaby took a strange turn during his performance at the festival, ranting about HIV/AIDS and the LGBTQ community. “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases, that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cellphone lighter up,” he said during his set. “Ladies, if your p—y smell like water, put your cellphone lighter up. Fellas, if you ain’t sucking d— in the parking lot, put your cell phone lighter up. Let’s keep it real.”
Fans slammed the rapper’s remarks on social media, accusing him of spreading false and harmful information about HIV and AIDS, as well as hurting members of the queer community. One fan remarked, “Dababy being homophobic talking about spreading HIV/AIDS while performing in front of a crowd of 1000s of ppl in a global pandemic is a juicy contradiction.”
T.I. also commented on an Instagram post earlier in the day comparing DaBaby’s rant to Lil Nas X’s “Industry Baby” video once more. “If Lil Nas X can kick his s—t in peace… so should DaBaby,” he said, with a shrugging emoji and the hashtag “#equality” added.
T.I. then voiced his admiration for Lil Nas X and other openly LGBT artists such as Frank Ocean in his live video, stating he was thrilled to see both of them being their most authentic selves in public. “I got a lot of respect for motherf—–s like Lil Nas X, and for motherf—–s like Frank Ocean, who step out there and live their truth. [They’re] honest with themselves,” he said. “A lot of you motherf—–s out there hiding your truth.”
Although he doesn’t agree with any of it, T.I. praised Lil X Nas for his willingness to push boundaries in the industry. “The Lil Nas X s–t — the performances, the videos — I got a lot of respect for bro, because, like I said, he had the courage to live his truth, but that s–t ain’t for me. I can’t look at it; it ain’t for me,” he said, adding that he also wouldn’t let his children watch Lil Nas X’s videos. “Their minds haven’t developed to the place where they can wrap their minds around those type of experiences, and those type of visual presentations.”
