Made You Look: When Rappers Spread Conspiracy Theories
Seeing doesn't always mean believing for these music stars.
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Don't Believe the Hype - Rappers are known to be vocal about their opinions –– who has the most ice, who has the hottest chick or who is the greatest of all time. But when boastful opinions support bogus conspiracy theories, things become deeper than rap. From Chingy's theory about ISIS to Lil Kim’s take on Biggie’s murder to rumors that Tupac’s still alive, music stars have claimed it all. Keep reading to see some of the conspiracy theories your favorite artists are co-signing. —Dominique Zonyeé (@DominiqueZonyee)(Photos from Left: Scott Gries/Getty Images, Bennett Raglin/BET/Getty Images for BET, Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Clear Channel)
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Chingy - Most political experts and analysts consider ISIS to be one of the largest and most deadly terrorist groups of all time, but for Chingy it’s all just a bunch of B.S. The “Right Thurr” rapper posted an image of armed hooded men to his Instagram account accompanied by the caption, “don’t be fooled by your TV programs showing you heads being cut off an all that…” referring to the gruesome televised murder of American journalist James Foley. The rapper, who is also a believer in the Illuminati, must have had a change of heart, because the post has since been removed.(Photo: Charley Gallay/Getty Images)
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YG - Why is Tupac’s legacy still going strong more nearly 18 years after his death? According to Compton rapper YG it’s because 2pacalypse is still alive. "Pac aint' dead, that's how I feel," he revealed to Montreality in July. "My n---a out here somewhere, you feel me? Out here chillin.' They don't know who killed the n---a, you feel me?"(Photo: Bennett Raglin/BET/Getty Images for BET)
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Macklemore - Three-years prior to writing verses foe his critically acclaimed “Thrift Shop,” Macklemore was tweeting his gripes with then-POTUS George W. Bush. “911...bush knocked down the towers,” Macklemore tweeted in September 2009. If it wasn’t apparent then that the Seattle MC wasn’t a Bush supporter, his 2005 track “Bush Song,” which appeared on his The Language of My World, revealed similar thoughts. (Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Rolling Stone)
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Prodigy - Mobb Deep's Prodigy is one of hip hop’s known conspiracy theorists. He has a philosophy about everything from the illuminati and Jay Z to counterfeit politicians. After Lupe Fiasco famously attacked President Barack Obama in 2011 by calling him a terrorist, Prodigy declared that most politicians were terrorists. “You can’t pull the wool over my eyes. I already know what time it is,” he told HipHopDX the year before Obama was elected for a second term.(Photo: B. Giacomazzo / Splash News)
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Lil Kim - It’s still hard to believe that Bed-Stuy’s own Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down almost two decades ago, but the fact that his murder remains a mystery is proof that it’s “deeper than what it seems," if you ask Lil Kim. “Biggie and Tupac were very powerful guys, they both could have ran for mayor just like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kim said in an interview following the 14th anniversary of Big’s death. “I think the government is looking at it like ‘we cannot have these two 'hood dudes with this much power, runnin’ for mayor or somethin’ like that, and winning,’ ’cause they feel like they would have lost control.”(Photo: Evan Agostini/Liaison)
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Afrika Bambaataa - When hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa speaks, the rap world listens, even if it sounds extreme. In 2011, the Zulu nation founder claimed that the music genre he helped establish was “hijacked by a Luciferian conspiracy.” “People have used hip hop in a lot of ways that cause a lot of mind problems,” he said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. “Like many of these [radio] stations say they’re hip hop, they’re playing hip hop. I go to these stations, and these so-called program directors don’t know jack crap about hip hop culture... They know rap to a certain extent.” The South Bronx native is credited with inventing the term "hip hop," so naturally Bambaataa’s theory holds weight like no other.(Photo: Scott Gries/Getty Images)
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Alicia Keys - Alicia Keys is not a rapper, but she has some theories about the genre. "'Gangsta rap' was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other." she told Blender Magazine in 2008. Keys, who was an Ivy League scholar prior to embarking on a singing career, studied the Black Panthers and even wore a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck in solidarity with the organization. She's also been known to agree with Lil Kim’s theory about the government’s involvement in Biggie and Pac’s murders.(Photo: WENN.com)
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Gunplay - While the nation mourned the deaths of 20 children and six adults in Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy in 2012; MMG affiliate Gunplay took a different approach to offering his thoughts on the senseless shooting spree. He tweeted, "Government killed dem kids to take our guns away. Another 9/11. Dont get it twisted." His opinion was not taken lightly as fans slammed the rapper, prompting him to remove the tweets.(Photo: Ray Tamarra/Getty Images)
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Fat Joe - Fat Joe has been vocal about his support of gay rights since 2011, and it may be because of the line of work he's in. "The hip hop community is most likely owned by gay, to be honest with you. They're owned by gay,” Joe told Vlad TV. “I happen to think there's a gay mafia in hip hop. Not rappers. You know, the editorial presidents of magazines, the PDs at radio stations, the people who give you awards at award shows. This is a f----g gay mafia, my man."(Photo: Rob Kim/Getty Images)
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Immortal Technique - After 9/11, Peruvian-born activist/rapper and self-proclaimed revolutionary Immortal Technique revealed that he was particularly suspicious of the U.S. government. “They could not even tell the truth about the air to breathe after that occurred,” he said. “They said that it was safe, but when the people developed those respiratory illnesses, and a lot of the first responders got very sick –– some of them died –– they went into full deniability mode. Somebody who cannot even tell me the truth about the air I breathe, it really makes me question what else they said.”(Photo: Chelsea Lauren/WireImage)
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Yasiin Bey - Before moving to Cape Town, South Africa in 2013 because of his disdain for aspects of his native nation, Yasiin Bey made headlines with his comments on the Taliban. As a guest on Real Time With Bill Maher, he shocked the nation when he said that he didn’t think Bin Laden was behind 9/11. But for his fans who have heard Mos tackle political issues on tracks like “Bin Laden” and “Definition,” it was no surprise.(Photo: Johnny Louis/WENN.com)