It’s been a rough couple of days for the hip hop community, in the wake of the shooting that happened at a T.I. concert in New York City on Wednesday, May 25.

With the shooting taking the life of Ronald “Banga” McPhatter, the NYPD commissioner referring to rap artists as “basically thugs” and Troy Ave finding himself charged with attempted murder, the whole ordeal is an unfortunate and tragic series of events. 

Fat Joe recently addressed the shooting in an interview with AllHipHop.com, referring to the situation as “ironic.”

“The reason we did this s**t [the “All The Way Up” remix] was so the s**t that happened last night where people got shot in the middle of a concert doesn’t happen,” Fat Joe said during the interview. “We’re trying to show people you can have your differences but it can actually end peacefully. It doesn’t have to end with death and destruction.

That’s pretty ironic that [shooting happened] while we’re doing this symbol of unity,” he continued. “I hope these young kids see it and follow suit. Cause ain’t nothing really worth it. You gotta understand most of us grew up in poverty with a dream and all the stripes against us. The fact that we’re able to make music, make money, have fans, and make our dreams come true – we really gotta appreciate that.”

We couldn’t agree more.