Last week, it was an exhausting time to be an American as the violent deaths at the hands of police of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile split open racial wounds. As the world focused on the horrifically violent viral videos making the internet rounds, one video that got swept under the media rug was the killing of Dylan Noble in Fresno, California. The incident occurred June 25, but the video of the 19-year-old white male being shot multiple times while lying on the ground was made public weeks later and led to an FBI investigation.
“I feel like the cops that murdered those men are cowards and should be brought to justice either by the streets or the judicial system,” said Fresno-native Fashawn. “These kinds of events can’t keep occurring in this supposedly great country of ours. Something has to change here in America and change fast or else it’s going to be anarchy out on these streets.”
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Though he’s never had any confrontations with the police, Fashawn said that he’s learned to avoid the boys-in-blue since an early age. However, Fashawn also believes in the community taking responsibility for its own violence as well.
“Surprised to see the lack of outrage for the one-year-old that was killed by gang violence recently in my hometown, to be honest,” said Fashawn. “I’m embarrassed for my city for the most part. Fresno Police Department could’ve done a better job handling that situation. My condolences go out to the family of Dylan Noble.”
As everyone from Drake to Jay Z commented on the recent media storm of police brutality, Fashawn feels it’s necessary for Hip Hop to speak up.
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“I don’t see how they can ignore it and not acknowledge the conditions of our humanity at this point,” he said. “I salute them for speaking out and being brave enough to risk their corporate support in return. That takes a lot of audacity as an artist and as a brand.”
It’s been over a year since Fashawn dropped his sophomore follow-up to 2009’s Boy Meets World entitled The Ecology, which DX scored a 4/5 and called a “strong follow-up, six years in the making, that hits hard while preaching perseverance.”
Set to drop before the year is over, he’s in the early stages of his next project currently dubbed Manna.
