American rapper, NBA YoungBoy has expressed regret over the content of his lyrics, vowing to stop making violent music by the direction of his raps.
The 23-year-old rapper, who disclosed this in an interview with Billboard, also revealed he plans to become a Mormon, crediting the Christian theology with helping pull him out of a dark place.
YB said his support of Mormonism began after being visited by missionaries while on house arrest in Utah, crediting his change of mindset to his budding connection to the Book of Mormon and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
NBA Youngboy said he instinctively turned the missionaries away the first time they appeared on his doorstep, before having second thoughts and welcoming them into his home.
“I wanted help very badly. I needed a friend. And it hit me,” he admitted. “It was just cool to see someone with a different mindset that had nothing to do with business or money — just these wonderful souls.”
The missionaries then began visiting the rapper’s home every day, where they would engage in talks with him about The Book of Mormon and sought to “make sure” YoungBoy’s “heart was in the right space” for his official baptism into the church.
He said he plans to become baptized into The Church of Latter-Day Saints after his house arrest is over.
“Even when my negative thoughts come back, when I do want to tell them, ‘Not today,’ I just don’t let nothing stop it,” the rapper said.
Elsewhere in the interview, NBA YoungBoy said his newfound interest in Mormonism has partially inspired him to rap less violent lyrics on some of his new music.
“What if they don’t like me now?” he said, wondering about his fans’ thoughts on his newfound approach.
“I’m not changing. I will not be provoked, I will not be broken, and I’m not going back to who I used to be. Accept it or not — I ain’t going back.”
YB also tapped into a similarly vulnerable perspective when reflecting on his uniquely prolific creative output, which he likens to both a disease and an addiction.
“I wish I knew when I was younger how unhealthy this was for me. Whatever type of energy I had inside me, I would’ve pushed it toward something else,” he said.
Reflecting more on his music, namely what he perceives as its potential impact on listeners, YB expressed a change in how he looks at his work now versus how he viewed it when he was younger.
Specifically, when discussing “the shit I put in these people’s ears,” the artist touched on a sense of responsibility he now feels and his desire “to clean whatever I can clean” in the years ahead.
“I think about how many lives I actually am responsible for when it comes to my music,? YB said before diving into several hypothetical scenarios, including asking? How many people have put this shit in their ears and actually went and hurt someone?” he asked
Deeper into his candor on this topic, which also saw him touching on having been brought up around a lot of fucked-up shit, YB shared an apology. “I was wrong, he said. “And I’m sorry.”
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KanyiDaily had also reported how Floyd Mayweather’s daughter, Iyanna Yaya was arrested for allegedly stabbing the NBA YoungBoy’s baby mama during a fight.