Vic Mensa Addresses Dissing XXXTentacion W/ BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher: “I Was Not Aware His Mother Would Be In Attendance”

Roc Nation’s Vic Mensa has stepped up to address controversy surrounding his BET Hip Hop Awards cypher. The hip-hop artist acknowledged taking a major swipe at late rapper XXXTentacion.

Last night, Vic went to his Instagram page to address the aftermath and apologize for getting at XXX with his mom in attendance.

“Recently I did a freestyle for the BET Hip Hop Awards cypher addressing and condemning rappers who unabashedly abuse women and those who stand up for them and even call them legends. I stand behind that statement. It was pre-recorded weeks ago and I had no idea a grieving mother would be in the audience to honor her loss son. I never intended to disrespect her and I often my deepest condolences for her loss at the hands of gun violence. However, I vehemently reject the trend in hip-hop of championing abusers and I will not hold my tongue about it. I don’t give a f*ck about getting attention. I care about bringing awareness and holding people accountable for their actions.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BosEJEkhNi1/

This week, Vic sparked headlines after rumors developed about him taking shots at XXX during the BET Hip Hop Awards taping.

Earlier this year, music executive Steve Stoute shared his personal issues with streaming giants like Spotify previously not playing fair in banning artists like XXXTentacion over domestic violence and personal issues.

“When I seen XXXTentacion and R. Kelly get pulled off of playlists on Spotify, I thought, at that moment in time, ‘Where does this go?’ Are you doing this because, are they convenient or is this policy? That’s the problem. Don’t do anything. Do you want to be happy or do you want to be right? … It’s actually unfortunate that Spotify is now the guy standing in front of all this, when other streaming services have followed suit. Don’t we always separate the art from the artist? Haven’t we always done that? So, if you’re going to make it a policy, then I have to start going through the list and now it’s not convenient, because now we gotta be like, ‘How about this, we’re f*cking not playing Michael Jackson.’ I mean, we’re just not.” (Hot 97)

Recently, Top Dawg Entertainment’s Punch weighed-in on streaming services censoring musicians.

As for the new policy itself, Top Dawg Entertainment President Punch responded, “Whoa. Are they censoring the music? That’s dangerous. It’s a super-sensitive topic; a conversation needs to be had. There are way too many variables.” This was underscored by multiple reports of demands from activists to remove other artists from playlists; the organization Ultraviolet, for example, called for both Chris Brown and Eminem to be similarly moved off Spotify’s main real estate. (HITS Daily Double)