LOS ANGELES — Please excuse Roddy Ricch for being the opposite of antisocial, to borrow the title from his breakout album. The rapper is simply concerned about the senseless violence he’s been seeing in Los Angeles.
Ricch’s comments, made Tuesday in his Instagram stories, came in the wake of PnB Rock’s Sept. 12 slaying at a Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles restaurant in South L.A. The Philadelphia rapper, 30, was targeted for his jewelry, with the Los Angeles Police Department suggesting that a location-tagged Instagram post from his girlfriend might have prompted the attack.
“LA! Usually I try to mind my business and let the world rotate but we gotta do better,” Ricch wrote in a post that has since expired.
“It’s too much senseless violence. Too much opportunity and motivation to take things other people work hard for. It’s too much life to live to take someone else’s away.”
Authorities are hoping PnB Rock’s jewelry leads them to their suspect. Area pawn shops have been alerted.
“I love my city but we can’t keep going out like this,” wrote Ricch, real name Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr., a Compton native. “Before you know it, it’ll be nobody left to take from or kill.”
He’s not entirely in the realm of hyperbole, and the violence isn’t limited to Los Angeles. At least one notable rapper has been slain by gun violence every year since 2018, according to CNN. XXXTentacion was shot in Florida in 2018. Nipsey Hussle was gunned down in L.A. in 2019 and Pop Smoke was shot in 2019 in the Hollywood Hills. King Von was slain in Atlanta and Mo3 was gunned down on a Dallas highway, both in 2020. Young Dolph was taken out in Memphis in 2021. And that’s not an exhaustive list.
“Let’s stay on point stay aware and find better ways to pursue our dreams,” added Ricch, 23, “because this s— turning into ALL NIGHTMARES.”
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