Vic Mensa apologized to XXXTentacion’s mom for critical freestyle

Vic Mensa still doesn’t regret calling out the rap community for its embrace of XXXTentacion in his BET Hip-Hop Awards freestyle, but that didn’t stop him from apologizing to the late rapper’s mom.

During an interview with “The Breakfast Club” Monday, the Chicago emcee, 25, was asked about the backlash he got for criticizing the slain rapper in his award show cypher. While he said he stands by his words, he still reached out to XXX’s mother, Cleopatra Bernard, to apologize after finding out she’d attended the event.

“I actually reached out to his mother personally,” he said. “We pre-tape those things. I didn’t know she would be there. At the end of the day, I do think that the conversation that I was trying to bring up and that I did bring up is a super necessary conversation.”

While Mensa admitted there may have been a better time and place to make his point, he stressed how important it is that the rap community confront its tolerance of misogyny and violence towards women. At the time of XXXTentacion’s death, he was awaiting trial for domestic violence against a pregnant ex-girlfriend, along with witness harassment and tampering charges.

“Maybe the way of going about it was not the best for the time, but I think the conversation is one that had to be had — talking about violence against women and misogyny in hip-hop, but particularly violence against women,” he said. “I had a lot of people on the low reach out to me and thank me for that.”

Mensa’s freestyle was an immediate source of controversy after it was shown at the BET Hip-Hop Awards in October. At the time, XXXTentacion collaborator DJ Scheme, tweeted that fans would be “f–king disgusted” by it.

Since the 20-year-old was murdered in Broward County, Fla., in June, many high profile members of the rap community have praised the late rapper and the impact he had during his short career.

Kanye West has been a particularly vocal supporter of the Florida rapper, even providing a guest verse on his just-released posthumous album, “Skins.”

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