KRS-One has thrown his hat in the ring, speaking out about the numerous child molestation allegations against the Zulu Nation founder, Afrika Bambaataa.
In a bizarre interview for N.O.R.E and DJ EFFN’s Drink Champs podcast (which has since been deleted), KRS-One launches into an uncomfortable defence regarding the allegations put forward by four separate men, who claim that Afrika Bambaataa molested them when they were teenagers.
As all of these kind of discussion go, when asked about the controversy surrounding the allegations, KRS-One decided to take a stance regarding the lexical semantics surrounding the word “controversy”.
“First of all, controversy is not truth,” he explained, although no one asked. “What you want is truth right now. But truth is also not information. It’s not gossip. It’s not even conversation.”
Like a confused sphinx, KRS-One managed to present a riddle while attempting to answer a question, one which when solved essentially equates to it being – in KRS’s eyes – impossible to prove Afrika Bambaataa guilty of the molestation accusations on just the word of these four grown men. He went on to explain that regardless of the allegations put against him, Bambaataa’s impact in the hip-hop community can’t be undone.
“For me if you keep it hip-hop, nothing can be taken away from Afrika Bambaataa, nothing. Just keep it hip-hop. But if you want to dig into dude’s personal life and accusations that’s being made and so on… Personally — me personally – I don’t give a fuck. Personally. Look, if somebody was harmed or whatever, y’all gotta deal with that shit. Deal with it. That don’t stop hip-hop. That don’t stop what you did for hip-hop. It don’t take away none of it. History is history. But deal with that. That’s personal.”
Unless, it’s actually criminal, and not personal at all.
His concern regarding the history of hip-hop mirrors to a significantly lesser extent, the much more well worded opinion of Chuck D when he was talking about Bill Cosby. Chuck D suggested that regardless of the outcome of the numerous rape allegations against Cosby, it would be wrong to forget all the positive things the actor had done for the African-American community, while in no way excusing his rape allegations.
Essentially what KRS-One is saying in the above quote is that he doesn’t care if Afrika Bambaataa is an actual child molester, because he has done some great things for hip-hop. This is, of course, a completely fucked stance to take because, holy shit, he might be a serial child molester, while simultaneously spitting in the faces of sexual assault survivors who are reduced to an afterthought and labelled less important than hip-hop. KRS-One clearly doesn’t understand that things stop being personal when you break the law by physically violating another human being who due to their age is legally unable to consent to sexual activity with an adult.
KRS-One then goes on to defend his stance, claiming that because he has been surrounded his entire life by people of questionable moral fibre, he has no choice but to accept people for who they are.
“Even if you knew the facts… A person like me, I deal with dudes that are questionable all the time, not just if the accusation is rape. I know dudes that are doing… You know what I’m saying? If you know anybody from prison, if you know anybody from the shelter, if you know anybody – If you live really in the hood, you know shooters. You know dudes running from the cops. You know your man might have an open warrant on him right now! I’m not judging these motherfuckers, man! That’s my n*gga right here, yo. That’s it. Now what you do and your crime, and your shit and your bullshit, whatever you’re doing, that’s on you. That’s you, my G. That’s how I always dealt with it. I can’t pick and choose.”
Here’s a fun quick game: of all branches of criminals, which ones are incredibly despised by not only the general public but by pretty much everyone? If you said paedophiles, congratulations! You are officially more street than KRS-One, who is really grasping at straws in the above quote where he tries to imply that even if Bambaataa was a proven paedophile he’d still be tight with him.
Apart from this whole interview really shining a light on what a thoughtless piece of garbage KRS-One is, it also highlights the problematic attitudes which are prevalent when sexual assault survivors muster the courage to speak out against their abusers. Attitudes which are heavily laden with mockery, denial and victim blaming.
Regardless of the outcome of the allegations surrounding Afrika Bambaataa, no one should forget that when asked about child molestation, KRS-One said, “I don’t give a fuck.”
Image: uptownmagazine