In the final segment of our revelatory, controversial new interview series with Ralo, he gets real about what's most important to him, both as an artist and as a man: the religion of Islam. He sees himself as one of the first contemporary rappers to so openly advertise his Muslim faith. "I'm a walking commercial for Islam," he said. "I'm the best walking commercial. This shit almost like the Super Bowl."
Ralo begins by explaining how his time spent in prison led to him becoming a devout Muslim. "After sittin' down for a long period of time, you just wanna get yourself together, so that's the reason a lot of people in prison get closer to God," said the recent 1017 Records signee.
An especially powerful scene from Ralo's recent "My Diary" video was when he knelt down on his prayer rug in an empty cell and led his fellow inmates in a group worship ritual. He rented out an entire Georgia prison for the video, part of a three-part series that was inspired by his Diary of the Streets 2 mixtape.
Also in the new interview clip, he spoke about the Islamophobia Trump's rhetoric has inspired as well as the president's proposed Muslim ban. "It's just ridiculous," said Ralo. "He has to be ignorant ... He don't know, he can't know. 'Cause if he knew, then he would promote Islam like I'm promotin' it."
Ralo wasn't aware of any Muslim rappers when he first launched his music career. "It was almost to the point where they was tryna hide it," he said, "like they was almost scared to tell people 'cause they'd probably lose their fanbase or whatnot. But nah, I have made it into a trending thing, so everybody wanna do it."
As Ralo pointed out, the interview took place on Feb. 21, the date on which Malcolm X was assassinated (in 1965). "That's someone I always looked up to and that's somebody I follow," he said, going on to express how he's grateful that he, as a rapper, can now advance the causes of the black activists he's always admired.
Watch all three of our previous interview segments with Ralo below. His latest tape, last month's Famerican Gangster 2, is available below, and he's got a joint project with Gucci Mane, entitled Ralo La Flare, on the way.
Ralo Explains Why He Doesn't Fuck With Jeezy Anymore
Ralo Apologizes To Lil Yachty, Shades Jeezy For Not Giving Back Like Gucci & Birdman
Ralo Expains Why He Signed To Gucci Mane's Label