Nardo Wick may have robbed people in the past, but he wants people to know that he does not glorify burglary.

On Thursday (Dec. 30), the rapper released a statement addressing critics who claimed he was encouraging theft during his appearance on the “Big Facts Podcast.” The interview saw him open up about his dislike for 9-5 jobs as well as his preferred method at the time: robbing people.

“I would just look at it like, I would go rob a nigga and get this much, why would I go to work for a week?” Nardo said. “But you got to think, for real. If I go do this to somebody and get $7,000, $5,000 […] Why I’m finna go to work for two weeks and make $500? Hell no.”

The comments garnered some negative responses about the message he appeared to send, so he took to his Instagram Story to clarify his statement.

“I’m not trine influence nobody to go rob nobody,” the Jacksonville native began. “They asked a question about MY PAST and I answered it. That’s what I was doing when I was 15-16 years old, a product of my environment. My mama had just came home from prison and it was a hard time for us and we ain’t have nothing.”

“I would never tell or try to convince a young Black man or anyone period to crash out! I changed my life and started taking rapping serious because I knew that I wouldn’t make it if I kept doing what I was doing,” he went on. “There is nothing wrong with a job, robbing aint’ cool at all and I aint try to make it seem cool I was speaking on past events, what I was doin young and dumb. I changed for the better and learned from my mistakes. Ya’ll stay focused and chase ya’ll dreams.”

See Nardo Wick’s appearance on “Big Facts” below.