S. Samuel
Southern rapper Waka Flocka Flame's mother, Debra Antney, has come to her son's defense in light of fans' assumption that he is striving to be the next Tupac Shakur.
Despite titling his debut album Flockaveli after the late rapper’s “Makaveli” alias, Waka’s mom promised her son knows his place in hip-hop.
“People took [his album title] like he’s comparing hisself to Tupac. Never that. He know he’s not Tupac. You have people that want to be other people, like it’s not that. When people are so limited, they stay stuck. l just told him yesterday. “Why you staying stuck?” He did grow up around guns and drugs but he’s still a fun person. You have to learn how to channel all of that energy into having fun. It doesn’t have to be about shooting and killing. In the hood these are things that you do experience, but he wasn’t raised in the projects or some real hard places. He chose to hang out in stuff like that. Those are the places that he wanted to be at. That’s where he felt comfortable, where he belonged.” (VIBE)
Last month, Flocka discussed being influenced by Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli and dumbing down his rap image.
“Tupac introduced me to the [writing] of Machiavelli,” Waka said in an interview. “That’s why I made that. I can’t just, ‘Oh, Tupac did that, so I’m gonna do that too.’ If people read, they would love that man. That man is a mind-game genius. I read the Machiavelli war-tactic books, his biography, everything. That man is just like sticks and stones, bad. You see Waka Flocka, what do you think? Negativity. You read Machiavelli? Negativity. My brain, I’m so sharp, I can play stupid on the camera and they think I’m dumb. So really. you just playing yourself. I’m so ahead of y’all. That’s for the bloggers.” (MTV)
Flocka recently spoke with SOHH about being inspired by Pac.
“I apologize to Tupac fans if they think I’m using Tupac to sell records,” Waka told SOHH. “I’m not. Tupac is the reason why I really made Flockaveli. It’s because of the story of . You know what I’m saying? And at the time right now, I’m gonna sum it all up, Makaveli had his back up against the wall, he felt like people were out to get him. You know what I’m saying? It’s how he felt. At the time I was making my album, that’s how I felt. And that’s what was going on. I was going through bad press, bad time, everything.” (SOHH)
The rap newcomer’s debut album hit the sales chart last month.
Southern rapper Waka Flocka Flame’s Flockaveli debuted on the chart at No. 6. After seven days in the stores, Waka’s debut album has shelled out 37,200. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
Check out some recent Waka Flocka Flame footage below:
