You can expect to hear face masks dragged in the name of civil liberty on conservative media programs, Tennessee school board meetings and now, at Busta Rhymes concerts. The rapper apparently feels quite strongly about masks and other public safety measures, as shown in a newly resurfaced video.
A clip of the “Break Ya Neck” rapper slamming mask and lockdown mandates at a show back in June went viral Tuesday on Twitter.
“This is my second show in front of human life in the last 16 f—king months,” Busta told the crowd. “COVID can suck a d—. All these little weird-ass government policies and mandates [can] suck a d—.”
Busta, whose real name is Trevor Tahiem Smith Jr., went on to explain that the government is trying to “take our civil liberties away” by forcing people to wear masks.
“It’s called the God-given right of freedom, right?” he continued. “No human being is supposed to tell you that you can’t even breathe freely. F— your mask. … Some of y’all might feel differently, but f— your mask.
“We can’t eat food with a f—ing mask on,” he said. “We can’t even see each other’s smiles with a mask on.”
Filmed at the Seoul Tacos 10th Anniversary Block Party in St. Louis, the clip also sees Smith Jr. complaining about how public officials clearly did not take picking-up women into account when recommending face masks (despite their effectiveness in helping curb the spread of COVID-19).
“I come from a time, way before, I used to wanna holla at a chick, I used to have to do s— with my face to let her know that I’m into her,” he said onstage. “All of that energy gets blocked when your mask is on. Energy is important, and we are all conductors of good energy.”
You can keep that “good energy” to yourself, Busta, if it means keeping any viruses to yourself too.
The rapper then closed out his set by apologizing for getting “a little political.”
In addition to being irresponsible, Smith Jr.’s rant is a tad ironic given that he has been open about suffering from respiratory issues in the past. Last year, he told Van Jones about a harrowing doctor’s visit he’d had after gaining some weight and experiencing trouble breathing.
“I’m like, ‘You need to tell me what the f— you seeing. I need to hear what’s going on,’” Smith Jr. said he told his doctor, to which he said, “Your polyps grew so big that it blocked 90 percent of your breathing passage, and if I send you home tonight and you sleep under the A/C and catch a cold and that last 10 percent of breathing of your breathing passage gets blocked up … you are going to die tonight.”
Tweets of criticism and disappointment at the hip hop veteran’s “embarrassing” remarks came in hot on Tuesday. Here are some examples.
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