Willie D On the Dangers of Single Mothers Making Their Sons the ‘Man of the House’

Willie D has gone from dropping gems on rap singles like “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” with the Geto Boys to sending off two kids to college. But he couldn’t have done that if he didn’t have the funds to support them.

In a sit down with Vlad TV, the rapper stresses the importance of having enough income to support a family rather than creating a situation that forces a young man to grow up too soon.

“You ain’t got two nickels to rub together, you laying up with somebody who’s uneducated, who ain’t got no future plans … and you procreate, then what can you give your children?” he says.

Willie added that in many such cases, the father winds up in jail leaving the boy to grow up trying to fill that vacant role.

“And his mama tellin’ him, ‘You the man of the house,'” he says. “That’s another thing. Women gotta stop telling these boys that they’re the man of the house when they ain’t payin’ no bills. … Now, he’s trying to defend the house — he’s a boy trying to defend the house when mom gets into a relationship with that abusive step daddy or boyfriend. The bills are tight, money tight. So he got to jump out there … as the man of the house to protect her … and get that money.

“He tryna be a man to soon,” he continues. “Fifteen, 16-, 17-years-old out there hustlin’ and — bam — before he can even get his life started, he got a strike. And boy, once they get you in that system, your options just become limited, and limited and more limited.

“The idea of trying to make sure you got your stuff together before you bring somebody else into the world, that’s the kind of concept everybody needs to adapt,” Willie concludes.

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