King Yella gained a significant amount of notoriety when the first wave of drill rappers rose to prominence during the early 2010s. But perhaps some of the most standout moments of the Chicago natives’ career have come inadvertently by way of social media. Six years ago, he got shot on camera while attempting to cut a promo in his hometown. The video clip went viral shortly thereafter. This shooting was just one incident from an ever-growing laundry list of killings relating to gun violence in the city of Chicago–where more mass shootings occur than any other city in the U.S. This is a horrific reality that appears to have left King Yella feeling traumatized. He recently took to Instagram to share his grief with his followers.
“I lost the main two n***as I grew up with,” King Yella said, as tears trickled down his face. “N***as don’t understand this s**t, n***as be playing these games. N***as ain’t really losing n***as man. I lost every n***a, gang, on my momma. I’m tired of this s**t man.”
The emotional video clip was well received by most, but it also garnered laughter and mockery at the expense of King Yella, which prompted him to post a follow-up video on social media to address his skeptics. This time around, his message was a lot more stern.
“Check this out, I’m a grown a** man,” King Yella said. “That’s what’s wrong with the world, ya’ll wanna play tough…ya’ll scared to show emotions. Ya’ll bottle that s**t in and ya’ll end up wanting to kill ya’ll self. One thing about King Yella, the difference between me and these other n***as is I don’t give a f**k about what ya’ll got to say. I don’t care how ya’ll feel. If I was hiding [my grief] I wouldn’t have posted [the previous video]. Dumb*ss n***as, guess what? I wasn’t talking to myself, I was taking to somebody on the side of me. But f**k it, I captured myself crying, because I don’t usually do it all the time. So guess what? I did it for the world, to show to ya’ll ain’t nothing wrong with showing how ya’ll really feel…stop portraying and trying to be gangsta for the world. That’s why the world is f***ed up. That’s why Chicago is f***ed up…”
