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MTV hip-hop correspondent Sway talks to rapper 2 Chainz about his efforts to show dark-skinned beautiful women in his new video “Feds Watching.” The ‘I’m Different’ rapper also weighs in on the recent wave of artists who have been forced to apologize for insensitive lyrics.
In the interview, 2 Chainz said that for the ‘Feds Watching‘ video he wanted to film beautiful dark-skinned professional models. As he told Sway: “I wanted real models, I didn’t want Instagram models,” suggesting that oftentimes hip-hop videos will highlight amateur models because of their curvy bodies.
On a topic he appeared passionate about, 2 Chainz said images portrayed in the media often have a negative impact on black youth. He noted that his 4-year-old daughter is trying to discover what is beautiful, even while she plays with white dolls.
In the new video 2 Chainz says that he wasn’t trying to make a statement about race, but took an opportunity to highlight dark-skinned women.
2 Chainz and Sway also talked about the criticism of some rappers have received for their lyrics, most notably J. Cole’s lyric about autism. And while 2 Chainz seems to understand the backlash, he does seem a little peeved about it and thinks the public is stifling artists’ creativity.
As he told mtv.com:
“One end, you want to talk about the First Amendment, you want to talk about freedom of speech, but on the other end, everything is so delicate, you cannot say anything,” he said. “What hasn’t happened is that we all haven’t stepped up and taken a stand on ‘We just gonna have freedom of speech.'”
This is the dichotomy of 2 Chainz. I often enjoy his music in the club as pure entertainment, never anything to think about. But then I’ll see an interview and think, “This guy may be smarter than his music suggests.”
2 Chainz new album B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time is scheduled to be released Sept. 11.
“Feds Watching” is the lead single from the album and is currently climbing the billboard charts. Check out the interview above and the video below.
