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Kodak Black thegrio.com
Kodak Black attends the 4th Annual TIDAL X: Brooklyn at Barclays Center of Brooklyn on October 23, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for TIDAL)

This week Kodak Black reminded all of us that the accountability being fostered by the #MeToo movement hasn’t quite made its way to hip-hop culture.

Thursday, the rapper appeared on Ebro In The Morning as a guest to talk about his music and his upcoming album, Dying To Live, which drops this Friday. While Kodak is no Shakespeare, after a slow start, the radio hosts were able to get some coherent gems from the 21-year-old – most notably his feelings about Cardi B using him as inspiration for her career-making hit Bodak Yellow.

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As Kodak relaxed the overall vibe of the conversation seemed light and jovial, until Ebro brought up his sexual assault case.

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“We take sexual assault serious(ly),” the host said somberly. “We can’t get into details [due to the pending case], but we hope to have you back so we can have a deeper conversation about that because it’s a serious topic and we hear these stories a lot.”

After this is said there is an awkward silence and the rapper’s discomfort is palpable.  To relieve the tension co-host Peter Rosenberg changes the subject and tries to infuse some comedic relief by bringing up a moon landing conspiracy story that recently made headlines recently due to NBA star Steph Curry.

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But when Kodak still refuses to engage, Ebro addresses the elephant in the room and asks if his earlier statements upset the Florida native. That’s when the now clearly annoyed rapper replies that he thinks “When n—-s goin’ through sh*t, y’all be entertained by bullsh*t. So, change the subject, or I’m fi’n’ta walk out.”

This statement is odd considering, changing the subject is exactly what they attempted to do, to no avail. At this point, Ebro is tired of walking on eggshells and responds, “We don’t have to talk about nothing else. We can be done right here.”

An invitation that Kodak accepts by getting up to leave the studio, while Rosenberg and Laura Stylez sit there in shock by how quickly things went left.

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When news of this incident hit, I was sure that people would be intrigued by the awkward moment and maybe even slam Kodak for not handling things better.

But I was mistaken.

Instead, it appears that a significant portion of the audience was upset and at times even angry at Ebro for having the nerve to even bring up the sexual assault in the first place.

For those who aren’t aware, in 2016 the No Flockin’ emcee was accused of sexual assault after a minor claimed he raped her in his hotel room following a performance, and alleges he said he “couldn’t help himself,” during the attack.

The rapper pleaded “not guilty” in February of 2017, and now his trial set to begin in April 2019. And in the time since the alleged assault, he’s already been sent to jail repeatedly for a myriad of other offenses including possession of marijuana and child neglect.

What fascinates me about the Kodak Black apologists out there is how they make no mention of the casual and nonchalant way he talks about his other criminal cases. In one instance he even jokes that he feels like the jail is his next door neighbor because he’s been going over there, “since I was a baby,” at the tender age of 14.

So the issue here isn’t that a sensitive topic having to do with a legal matter was brought up, because that was going on all throughout the conversation without even a wince. The real issue is that it was about sexual assault and the mere mention of addressing – and perhaps even taking accountability for what was alleged to have occurred that fateful evening in Florence, Florida was enough to make that young man storm out.

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Unfortunately, the need to defend and silence conversations around sexual assault and deem them “inappropriate” whenever the accused are asked to speak up, is a time old tradition in the Black community. From our churches to our family dinners where young women (and men) often end up sitting right next to the very uncle, cousin, stepfather etc, who snuck into their room the night before – (even after telling an adult what happened) – sweeping sexual violence under the rug is a pretty common practice. So perhaps the vitriol directed at Ebro should have been expected.

Do I know that Kodak Black assaulted that young woman? No.

When she reported the alleged rape to her school nurse the next day could she have been lying? Possibly.

These are all questions the court and legal teams from both sides will have to contend with when the trial starts next spring. But the idea that white Hollywood has been empowered to yell #TimesUp at the top of their lungs for almost two years now, while toxic masculinity is still being so preserved in hip-hop culture that we can’t even address the topic with candor…. speaks volumes.



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