Royce Da 5'9 has landed himself into some very hot water over lyrics in his new song, "Tricked," off of his new album The Allegory. In the song, Royce raps about the music industry "tricking" artists out of money, among other ways we get "tricked" in life. One line, however, got fans and non-fans alike outraged, one that expresses anti-vaxx feelings.
"From day one at the hospital they target our children/Say they gonna immunize 'em they somehow get autism."
Well, in response to all of the backlash, the Detroit rapper sat down with Complex to talk about his choice of words and to clarify that he's not trying to push ideas on anyone.
"I have a child on the spectrum. All of my kids have been vaccinated. Within the last couple of years, I started being just real, real information junkie," he said. "I found that I was able to draw a correlation between autism and vaccination. I found vaccinations link back to autism in many ways. And my wife is not anti-vaxx. So if I was ever going to have any more kids, we'd probably have to figure out a way to meet halfway. So I'm not in any way trying to encourage people to not get their kids vaccinated. I encourage you to believe what you want to believe."
So it would seem that Royce is doing some research of his own about vaccines, and decided to make it a bar in the song. When asked whether he should consider his status as a public figure when rapping about a topic as controversial as that one, he made it clear that it wasn't a danger, and that instead people should shift focus onto those who are pro-vaccines, asking people to fact-check them instead of coming after him.
"What facts do they have? Was there something that America told them? Because I operate under the edict that America is guilty until proven innocent.You're telling me what you want to believe, and I'm telling you what I want to believe. It's just that simple. You don't have any facts that can say that I'm wrong. You're just telling me what you believe, and I'm fine with you believing that. But don't try to tell me what I can say and what I believe. I believe what I want to believe. And I say what I want to say. So you feel like I can believe it, then it shouldn't be anything else to talk about."
What do y'all think? Does Royce need to stop playin around or should we let him say how he feels?
Photo: Getty