In the past year, a number of prominent hip-hop icons have revealed some weirdly anti-scientific and counterproductive thinking. GZA got dragged for subscribing to the Flat Earth conspiracy theory, while Ice Cube tweeted anti-Semitic memes and championed his Contract With Black America with the outgoing Trump administration. Truly 2020 has been a whole mess. But since we apparently couldn’t get out of this dumpster fire of a year without losing all of our faves, pioneering producer Pete Rock just had to make this contribution to the flames:
https://twitter.com/PeteRock/status/1337006237678964741
That’s right. Soul Brother Number One, Mr. “T.R.O.Y.” himself is an anti-vaxxer. Because of course, he is. Unfortunately for Pete, this is also the year hip-hop heads reached their limit with the genre’s legends espousing dumb thinking and conspiracy theories. Fed-up fans immediately got their engines revving to serve up a reality check for the skeptical soul sample master, explaining that vaccines keep people from getting sick — you know, like our teachers taught us in third grade.
https://twitter.com/realIydoe/status/1337048314567675907
Today on Sesame Street let’s discuss vaccines!!! A vaccine prevents one from getting sick. A treatment/cure is used AFTER one gets sick. Yayyyy!!! https://t.co/ok3PJ8OWh3
— George M Johnson Garçon (@IamGMJohnson) December 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/HueyPNewton13/status/1337071289794584576
seat belt shit is real stupid. How saying buckle up to people who ain't dead in a car crash? https://t.co/cZtvlTvIJe
— Lil Uzi Overt (@DrewBreez) December 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/TrillSmith/status/1337074260985192450
https://twitter.com/7kudz/status/1337073543918579712
Why do people brush their teeth if they don't have cavities?
Why do people exercise and eat healthy if they're not fat? https://t.co/UecnaOTNIC
— ⚜️ Jax Persists ⚜️ (@LadyJayPersists) December 10, 2020
It isn’t like Pete Rock is the only one. Nas has repeatedly expressed anti-vax views in his music but it rhymes, so most folks can just ignore it (nobody really listens to lyrics anyway). But social media is the one realm where these ideas can be challenged in real-time, so it’s no wonder Pete caught the wrath for misusing his platform — just like plenty of other stars have over the past few months. Let’s just hope he can learn from this mistake the easy way and not like Doja Cat, who mocked coronavirus only to come down with a bad case herself weeks later. We still need hip-hop’s elder statesmen around — but maybe they should stick to recalling hip-hop history for posterity and leave the science to the actual scientists.
