Busta Rhymes criticised for anti-mask tirade: ‘Some of y’all might feel differently, but f*** your mask’
‘No human being is supposed to tell you, you can’t even breathe freely. F*** your mask’ rapper said
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Busta Rhymes has come under fire for the anti-mask comments he made at the Seoul Tacos 10th Anniversary Block Party in St Louis in June 2021.
In a resurfaced video, the 49-year-old rapper, whose real name is Trevor George Smith Jr, is seen saying that Covid-19 can “suck a d***”.
“All these little weird-ass government policies and mandates, suck a d***,” he said. “Stop trying to take our civil liberties away.”
Specifically talking about the mask rules, the New York-born rapper said: “It’s called the God-given right of freedom, right? No human being is supposed to tell you, you can’t even breathe freely. F*** your mask. Some of y’all might feel differently, but f*** your mask. I can’t rhyme to you with a mask on. You can’t eat food with a fucking mask on. We can’t even see each other smile with a mask on.”
He went on to talk about how wearing a mask doesn’t let him flirt with women properly.
He said: “I come from a time where before I used to even want to holler at a chick. I used to have to do shit with my face to let her know that I’m into her. But all of that energy gets blocked when your mask is on. Energy is important, and we are all conductors of fucking good energy.”
The “Don’t Cha” rapper concluded by mentioning that he’s “thankful” he became “more empowered” during quarantine and “learnt so much shit in this little time off”.
Adding: “I wanna see your face, f*** your mask.”
Many fans are disappointed by the “Break Ya Neck” rapper’s rant. Lawyer Exavier Pope compared the artist’s rant to that of his latest album ELE2’s cover art where a skeleton is seen wearing a mask.
He wrote: “Busta Rhymes’ anti-mask rant might give more insight into the meaning of the album cover art given the content of ELE2 that railed openly against government & government systems of oppression, so at first blush, my previous tweet appears satirical on its face when it might not be.”
Complex Music’s journalist Andre Gee wrote: “This man (Busta Rhymes) is talking about not wearing a mask so people can give the right facial expressions to women they like. So he can get numbers while thousands are dying. American individualism is treacherous.”
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“This, is, serious. You should have a healthy fear of this. So dangerous this entire COVID rant is so dangerous,” American political scientist Jason Johnson wrote.
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