The recent murders of Young Dolph, Draeko The Ruler, and Snootie Wild have outlined the disheartening fact that the rap game has become more dangerous than it has ever been before. Some rappers have been killed on Instagram Live while others have been murdered backstage at their own shows. The violence has gotten out of hand which made Vince Staples share his theory on why NBA players have not suffered the same fate even though several professional basketball players share the same backgrounds that the rappers do.
In a recent interview with Peter Rosenberg on his Real Late podcast, the Long Beach native talked about the violent nature that today's rappers have created for themselves and why it is unsafe for many of them to move around in the very places where they grew up. On the flip side, the "Law of Averages" rapper declared that the reason why NBA basketball players from the hood usually avoid being victims of violent acts is because of the way they conduct themselves out in public.
"It's about how we carry ourselves and how they act," Vince Staples said. "Because think about NBA players, we know they got hundreds of millions of dollars but they don't have that specific target on their back and these players is from the hood. DeMar DeRozen is from the hood, Russell Westbrook is from the hood, Aaron Afflalo is from the hood, Baron Davis is from the hood...ain't no taking that away from them, nobody would even try to...So it's like we just gotta start treating each other with more love and respect as we can. I understand beef, I understand it's real out here but we gotta realize why this is the thing. Cause it's money in it and they're gonna keep selling and we're gonna keep perpetuating it and then we're gonna be hurt once somebody dies."
Scroll up and skip to the 48:05 mark to watch Vince Staples address the violent nature of hip hop culture and the reason's why NBA players have been able to avoid it.
