David Banner does a lot of things, but holding his tongue is not one of them.
The rapper-activist stopped by ESSENCE Live Friday to offer an apology to black women by way of his new song “Marry Me.” The Jackson, Mississippi native said while speaking to different black women he learned a lot of them felt alone, and that his music contributed it.
“Me talking to so many women, they would always tell me just black women in general didn’t feel protected nor did they feel wanted. I said, especially in my career, I’ve done enough damage myself, so when I speak in now way am I criticizing other men and what they do in their music, but I have to sort of cleanse my soul and balance my vibrations out.”
The conversation quickly took on a more serious note when Banner was asked what prompted him to make the shift in his music, to which he attributes to how black men in America were being portrayed worldwide.
“When I had the number one song as far as hip-hop is concerned “Get Like Me” with Chris Brown, I got a global peak of how America is portraying black men from America. At that time, reality shows as we know it now first started to take off so for the most part, what people got from black men globally was rap videos and reality tv shows, and honestly, we looked like monkeys,” Banner said.
Banner then began to check his own behavior to reflect how he wanted to be portrayed, but then offered up a solution to ending racism.
“I’d like to say this and in no way does this reflect Essence, this only reflects David Banner, but white supremacy only respects two things: that’s a loss of life and a loss of finance and until black people threaten one of those two things we will forever continue to do what they do.”
Thoughts?