Crooked I
Crooked I (Photo: MTV)
After days of silence and being coy about a rumored shooting last week, rapper Crooked I explained the incident that took place last Friday (February 27) in a recent sit-down with MTV.
While speaking with MTV News' Sway Calloway, the rapper admitted that an unknown assailant shot at him while he was conversing with a fan.
Since it happened, he's been playing it back over and over in his head.
"Say you're walking down the street. Some dude comes up to you with a camera phone and he's like, 'Can you give a shout-out?' " Crooked told MTV. "You're like, 'OK,' and you're shouting the dude out. Three seconds later, somebody is shooting at you. Was dude [with the camera phone] trying to get me to stand still? Was he in on it? Was it a coincidence? I don't know. Mentally I had to fall back for a couple of days. I've been in those situations where people take shots or whatever. I'm relaxed around the hip-hop fans. I'm a very accessible dude. When dude came up and was like, 'Can you give me a shout out?' I'm like, 'Cool, what do you want me to say?' Three seconds later, I hear a noise. I [was] so far removed from the fact it can be gunshots. Then I turn around and see sparks. That's strange."
Finally detailing the incident, Crooked I, however, once again refused to elaborate any further, explaining that -- in the code of the streets -- it's a no no to discuss street business.
"Where I'm from, certain things you can't talk about. It's illegal to our code and how we live," he said.
The rapper also didn't reveal whether or not he was shot, or if he knew who the person who shot at him was. But, he makes it clear, he's "good."
Physically, Crooked I is unchanged. But mentally, the incident, he says, opened eyes to the fact that he's very accessible to people, and he plans to change that. At least, for the time being.
"It just really opens your eyes, man, that I'm too accessible," he explained. "I'm not this rap star walking around with 30 bodyguards. I gotta really re-evaluate the way I move around. I have to re-evaluate that. They caught me slippin'. The first shot I didn't even think it was a gunshot. That's how relaxed I was. I thought, 'What was that?' Somebody blew a horn, that's the only reason I turned around. You have to change your life. I gotta change my movement. They're not gonna see so much of Crooked I in the 'hood by himself. That right there is out the door, period. Some people may not like it. At this point, I don't give a damn, because it's my life."
"It's deeper than rap," Crooked I later added.
According to MTV, Crooked I continues to work on his debut solo album, as well as a group LP with his newly formed Slaughterhouse collective -- consists of Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden and Royce Da 5'9. But, the collaborative project titled No Country For Old Men he has been previously working on with Bishop Lamont and G. Malone is on hold.
who wouldnt be shook
