On Wednesday night, nine people were gunned down in a church in Charleston, South Carolina by 21 year old Dylann Roof. This sent a wave of shock around the entire country, and has led some rappers to speak up about racism, gun laws and/or mental illness. Yesterday, Killer Mike said he wishes that the churchgoers were armed, and today, Nas focused more on the mental illness side of things. Watch the video above, and read an excerpt of his response below:
“Mental illness is something that I wish we could detect earlier on — from birth. To detect that, and maybe vaccinate that at birth, so we don’t have to worry about who’s who. Who are we walking around? Who are the people that we are living around us that are sick? That really need help... We have to live our life in this zoo. How do heal the people that are mentally ill today? How do make them more respectful of each other no matter what race they are? Racism is rotting America. It’s been rotting America since its inception. So this is a very serious time that we’re moving into in 2015... Prayers to the families and family [members] that had to witness such a horrific [thing.] My prayers are with y'all,”