'Hip-hop is not the problem. Our reality is the problem of the situation,' the rapper responds to Rivera's comment that 'hip-hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism.'
- Jul 3, 2015
AceShowbiz - Kendrick Lamar delivered a powerful performance of his new single "Alright" during last weekend's BET Awards, rapping his bars atop a vandalized cop car with a huge American flag as the background. However some Fox News anchors weren't impressed by the performance as they accused the Compton native of inciting violence with Geraldo Rivera adding that "hip-hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism."
Lamar has now responded to the criticism. In an appearance on TMZ Live on Thursday, July 2, the TDE rapper asked Rivera, "How can you take a song that's about hope and turn it into hatred? The overall message is, 'We gonna be alright.' It's not the message of I want to kill people."
He went on discussing criticism over his performance on the top of a cop car. "The problem isn't me standing on top of a cop car," he continued. "His attempt is diluting the real problem, which is the senseless acts of killings of these young boys out here. For the most part, it's avoiding the truth. This is reality. This is my world. This is what I talk about in my music. You can't dilute that. Me being on a cop car, that's a performance piece after these senseless acts."
Lamar later shared his opinion on Rivera's statement that hip-hop is more dangerous to young African American than racism. "Hip-hop is not the problem. Our reality is the problem of the situation," he said.
"This is us expressing ourselves. Rather [than] going out here and doing the murders myself, I want to express myself in a positive light the same way other artists are doing. Not going out in the streets, go in the booth and talking about the situation and hoping these kids can find some type of influence on it in a positive manner," he explained.
