Migos was featured in Vice TV’s “Shelter in Place with Shane Smith” interview series to discuss their quarantine lives and the ongoing pandemic. The Atlanta trio has previously discussed how Coronavirus has affected their careers, as well as tragically taking the life of Offset’s uncle. During the chat, Vice Media Group Founder Shane Smith asked the rappers about COVID-19’s disproportionate toll on African Americans.
“It’s true,” said Offset “because we don’t have the same resources.”
“You know we got all this paper and we’re successful and still like family members in our family do not have or qualify for health insurance or they can’t get it,” he continued. “And they’re already 50 years old and already have a health issue that they have been dealing with for 10 years. It’s like, when you don’t have the resources and the funds, you’re just out of luck. That’s just what it is in real life.”
According to a study published by CNN on May 6, U.S. counties with higher African American populations have accounted for over half of the country’s COVID-19 cases and almost 60 percent of COVID-19 deaths.
“There’s not a lot of resources, a lot of folks don’t have money. I know so many people in my family and my friends’ family that don’t have health insurance,” Offset added. “When you try to get, you know, I try to pay upfront, that still don’t work. You have to go through different processes and you still might not be eligible…it leave them to suffer or try to have a chance at survival that is so small.”
Fellow Migos member Quavo also shared his own family’s experience.
“Our culture, we become doctors ourselves…It’s like our culture really barely go to the doctor. That’s why sometime you get the results that we get, you know, because we just, we wait until it gets super- super-super-duper serious,” he said. “My grandmamma actually passed to cancer like four years back just because the fact she didn’t tell us and did not want to scare us and put that fear in our heart that we was kind of losing her. And really we could have gotten her the best help in the world.”
See a snippet from the Migos’ interview below and watch the full broadcast tonight (May 28) at 10:30 pm EST.