Two days after Chicago rapper King Von and two other men were shot and killed in Atlanta, rapper T.I. made headlines with his thoughts on the murder, which has caused some within the hip-hop community to criticize his motives.
50 Cent shared an Instagram story by King Von’s sister, Kayla, that initially read: “And theses r FACTS! But the energy he always putting in ppl business need to be the same energy he need to make it right with his daughter!!!!! No wea is my brother @50cent get on his ass!.”
The rapper-turned-mogul was referring to T.I.’s post on Nov. 9 that said, “Atlanta is a beautiful progressive city filled with Black excellence. We uplift each other & win together. Stop coming here to kill each other. That shit is played out.” He captioned the IG post, “Handle YOUR beefs in YOUR city. Thx in advance. – King.”
The post, which has over 160,000 likes, also drew a lot of criticism, including from King Von’s sister and Waka Flocka Flame (though he didn’t call out T.I. directly) In a video reposted by The Shade Room, Waka Flocka spoke out on how hypocritical those comments were coming from a “street rapper”.
“Never talk down on people when you once was the person that you talking down on. I don’t give a fuck what the scenario is. Ever,” Waka Flocka said. “And I’m talking about guys that come from the streets. Not niggas that say they do. Bruh, I don’t care how far I get in life. Bruh, I would never look down on anybody in the streets or anything they ever do in the streets because I understand the laws and lifestyle that come with it. And when you understand that, a lot of things you not supposed to talk about.”
Later on Monday, Tip explained that he was not referencing the fatal shooting in his earlier Instagram post. In a late-night post, Tip cleared things up.
“I don’t speak ill of my allies. My last post had nothing to do with King Von,” T.I. said. “Y’all grossly mistaken, I have no motive or intention to do harm or malice cats I’m cool wit. My family’s hearts goes out to them & I’ve expressed this to the people in his life that matter most in this situation. That’s all I’m concerned with.”
On Nov. 7, the day after King Von had been killed, Atlanta Police charged a 26-year-old suspect with murder. After the arrest, the department closed the case.
