On Sunday, A$AP Rocky shared his story on what went down in Sweden during the summer of 2019. The rapper was arrested and charged with assault following an altercation with two men in the streets that he said were harassing him, despite pleas to leave him and his friends alone.
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The rapper debuted his new documentary, Stockholm Syndrome on Sunday night which explores his rise to fame and the arrest in Sweden. The whole ordeal caught even more attention after Donald Trump attempted to intervene and get Rocky out of prison. Mind you, this was also an attempt to secure more Black votes ahead of the November 2020 election so, it wasn’t entirely a selfless act.
“I’m sleeping in my halfway dream. I heard my name. I kind of opened my eyes and closed my eyes again and then they said my name again. And I opened my eyes and I’m like, ‘Yo, what the f*ck?'” Rocky said of Trump’s abrupt public calling for his freedom. “I said, ‘Aw shit. Looks like I might do a bid,'” he joked, according to Rolling Stone.
However, the rapper admitted that he had mixed feelings about Trump’s support, largely because he believed that it could hinder any opportunity of freedom he might have. However, he also felt thankful of any support he received during that time.
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“I kinda was scared that Trump was going to f*ck it up,” he said. “But then on the other hand, I’m just like, ‘That’s what’s up, man.’ You want the most support you could and it’s like, ‘Oh, the president supports you.’ That felt good. Cause for the most part, I don’t think he ever knows what’s going on in the urban communities … I was thankful for that, I can’t lie. I was also scared that it would jeopardize me being in [jail] longer.”
Rocky’s dealings with the Trump administration apparently ended after his release from prison in Sweden. Though Rocky did admit that he thanked the former president, members of Trump’s camp were irritated that the rapper didn’t do it publicly. Rocky explained that he was privy to their “chess move” in their attempts to help him. Still, Rocky felt that it made that experience “a little worse.”
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“It was a chess move and they tried to strong-arm a lot,” he said. “In reality, I had no problem saying thank you to the man, especially if he helped me. That’s the narrative they pushin’: That he got me out. And he didn’t free me. If anything, he made it a little worse.“
Rocky’s Stockholm Syndrome debuted at Tribeca Film Festival.