New York rapper Nas slammed President Donald Trump in an essay, calling him a racist in what amounted to an open letter to his fans published this week.
Writing in Mass Appeal, Nas — real name Nasir Jones — explains the reason he doesn’t “pay attention to politics at the moment.”
“There’s no reason. For me, it doesn’t make any sense. We all know a racist is in office,” the rapper wrote.
The “My President is Black” singer says his way of addressing racism and police brutality in Trump’s America is not through politics, but through his music.
“Whatever president may be in office doesn’t affect my work directly. The way he affects people is what affects me. I observe what’s going on and that goes into my creative process. The person himself, I’m not caught up with. I don’t even have time for Trump or Pence. I don’t give a f*ck,” he wrote.
“It’s the same way I felt as a youngster when Ronald Reagan was in office,” Nas continued. “My voice at that point didn’t f*ckin’ matter to anybody. I didn’t care. You know what’s different today? I’m older, that means I’m more responsible. That means paying attention to what’s happening to my country.”
The Grammy-nominated rapper says, however, that he found success despite Reagan-era laws that “ruthlessly destroyed the black community.”
“I’m doing all the things I ever dreamed of, even though there was a Ronald Reagan, even though there was laws that ruthlessly destroyed the black community, put tons of us in prison on trumped-up charges, and put us in jail for a long time over crimes that other people get a smack on the hand for. It’s basically slavery,” he wrote.
“From when I was born, people have enforced laws targeting so-called minorities to keep us enslaved, in a way. I survived that,” he added.
Nas has longed despised Trump.
In November, 2015, the longtime Obama supporter posted a picture to Instagram showing the then-Republican presidential candidate’s graffitied face with his mouth open on a bathroom wall behind a urinal.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson
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