Rising rapper Lil Baby wants to stick to music rather than politics as he doesn’t see himself as a Malcolm X or Martin Luther King figure.
The 25-year-old made a musical intervention following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May by releasing the track “The Bigger Picture.”
The song gained extra poignancy after another Black man, Rayshard Brooks was killed by police in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
Brook’s death prompted protests and resulted in the burning of a Wendy’s restaurant. Lil Baby’s track became an anthem due to lyrics like, “You can’t fight fire with fire, I know, but at least we can turn up the flames some.”
Lil Baby initially offered to work with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on police reform, but deleted his tweeted offer and now says he’s going to avoid politics.
“The more I’m seeing what’s up with all that s##t, the more I’m like, ‘Let me back up off politics,'” he told GQ magazine. “I don’t want to be no Malcolm X or Martin Luther (King)…. I stuck my nose in it. I’m good on that.”
Baby, real name Dominique Armani Jones, has also had his fingers burned by politics as Paul Howard, the District Attorney who jailed him in 2014, on charges relating to marijuana dealing, claimed the rapper had endorsed him in his fiercely fought, but unsuccessful primary race.
The Hip-Hop star denies endorsing Howard, saying, “Paul Howard sent me to prison,” but reveals he did meet up with the prosecutor to discuss justice reform.
“If I can sit at a table and really talk to you like I’m human, versus the politics and you in that courtroom, you really might come to reality versus you sending n##### g###### down the road for 500 years,” he adds.
Howard lost his primary race in August, and will not fight November’s election.
