On the heels of the controversial thesis that “being a rapper was more dangerous than being a soldier,” Jim Jones found himself in a heated social media debate with an Iraq War veteran. In response, the Veteran slid into Jones’ comments to voice his concern with Jones’ position, explaining that it had disturbed him as both a soldier and a hip-hop fan. Citing the devastating loss of life his unit saw in 2004, the soldier maintained that there was “zero comparison to be made” between the two career paths.
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Never one to balk at a challenge, Jones actively doubled-down on his position with a passionate and emotionally motivated response. “Here are facts every n***a I grew up with is either dead or in jail so u wanna compare death tolls it won’t add up. U went to army n met n***as u never knew or grew up wit. I grew up wit all these n***as all my life so it hit different.”
“Yal was shootin at kids n innocent bystanders in the midst of shootin at the enemy,” he continues. “We was kids shootin at kids n that mentality split over to success. Remember u knew who ur enemies were, we don’t and everybody knows who we are because of our notoriety so how u protect urself from enemies you can’t see? We all wear the same uniform, everyone is drippy. But ya’ll had American uniforms on and the enemy had their uniform on. You had the church of goin to war. We didn’t. We was at war when we was born.”
Though Jones only shared that part of the debate on his page, the soldier — IG handled as Mez — actually shared a response on his own IG. Explaining that a sense of honor and duty drove his decision to fight in Iraq after the September 11th, 2001 attacks hit New York City, he reiterates that many people shared the same mentality. “You want to compare a lifestyle choice in comparison to somebody that not only subjects themselves to danger protecting their loved ones, but people they don’t even know,” maintains Mez. “When you get into the rap game you’re doing it for what? Money. Not every single rapper, but you know who those rappers are — those are the ones who don’t get caught in the mainstream rap.”
“I’m not going to make it a blanket statement,” concludes Mez. “But one of the motivating facts is the opportunity to make money. When they make money they start feeding the people underneath them and putting it out there. Trying to make some change, I completely support that and understand that. But at the same time, it’s a lifestyle choice. There’s a lot that comes with that — don’t blame me or the military for that….If you’re trying to make a difference in that lifestyle go ahead and do so, but you don’t have to insult a whole group of people in doing so. Especially military women and men, who go out there and fight for the country for the sake of us. Especially after 9/11 — we were directly attacked and we made the decision to fight for our country.”
Mez made it a point to tag The Breakfast Club hosts, imploring Jones to meet him in the middle for a live discussion. At this rate, perhaps it would be for the best; common ground isn’t as far as they might think. Where do you stand on this matter?
