*Mention ATL rapper Shawty Lo and his proposed Oxygen reality TV series, “All My Babies Mamas,” and you’ll get the serious side eye and a “aww, hell to the naw” from a lot of folks.
Among them is EURweb blogger/contributor and radio host, Mo’Kelly who’s using his public platforms to crusade against the show and Sabrina Lamb, who’s started a boycott petition to keep the show off the air.
In other words, a lot of folks aren’t feeling the show or Shawty Lo and are doing everything they can to tank it . But would you like to hear from the man himself to get a bead of where he’s coming from?
He sat down with MTV News to do just that. However, he made it clear that he was not at liberty to discuss the show per se, but he did say quite a lot, including his role as a father of 11 and the balancing act he has to maintain with his 10 baby mamas.
“You can hate all you want to, I didn’t ask for it. It just happened. Now that it happened, I’m supposed to turn my back against it?” Shawty Lo told MTV News about his 11 children and untraditional family structure. “If I wasn’t taking care of my kids then you would really dog me out, but I’m taking care of my kids, providing for my family. I don’t know what else to say.”
Growing up, the ATL trap rapper faced many hardships. His mother was hooked on drugs, his dad wasn’t around and his grandmother who raised him died from cancer by the time he turned 17. Having to fend for himself, Shawty Lo turned to the streets to make ends meet.
“I came to be one of the largest drug dealers to come from Atlanta, Bankhead area and I started havin’ kids. When the money came, a lot of women came,” he said, estimating he was a millionaire by the time he turned 21. “Once you feel like a girl was your girlfriend or whatever, the rubber probably came off,” he said candidly. “They wouldn’t have an abortion. They used to take the money and run with it, and they’d have a baby by the most popular guy in the street, and that’s how I had all them kids.”
Get more from Shawty Lo at MTV News or watch the interview below:
Brother and sisters, we are in trouble! *smh*
so ??? you want what a medal for doin what you should be doin…. bein responsible an taking care of your responsiblities..???? the issue is….. not everything is for everybody .. an every thing doesnt need to be on TV.. its the level of buffoonery that people have an issue with .. take care of your kids family an babies mamas… good …do that .. we just dont need to see it …or have it glorifed as a way of life on TV … period point blank.. the youth now have enough to deal with decipher an live /work thru on a daily basis …..this doesnt need to be added to the confusion that they need to deal with on a regular basis ..
This doesn’t surprise me. We’ve condone all the other trashy tv shows that depict us in a negative fashion. What’s so different about this one? Besides it being stereotypical and misogynistic, what’s the big deal?
See, I didn’t want to go there, but you expressed some of what I was thinking…
MrUnapologetic: Of course, I was playing devil’s advocate but how much lower are we willing to go in order to ‘get paid’? This is the tragic consequence of trying to be ‘hip’ and making a dollar out of exploiting dysfunctionalism (if that’s a word) in our community. We’ve been applauding ignorance and buffoonery for so long that a show like this was bound to happen.
Easy E had a gang of kids as well and you would think after him mysteriously dying from AIDS, they would have common sense. This guy obviously doesn’t believe in wrapping it up and if he becomes another Easy, none of us should be surprised!
Stephanie, Eazy didn’t “mysteriously” die from aids.
And the ignorance continues to plague the community…Enough already!
Like Chris Rock said on Bigger and Blacker about men braggin about “I take care of my kids”: MUTHAFUCKA YOU SUPPOSED TO!