Birdman has a beef with books. The Cash Money music executive recently went viral in a clip of him speaking to a group of prisoners. The clip appeared as if Birdman asked the prisoners how he could help them.
“We need inside help as far as literature so these guys can have books to read,” an inmate said.
Birdman cut the inmate off.
“So you think reading books is going to [help,] no disrespect to reading books,” Birdman said.
The 18-second clip cut off. Posted on June 19, the clip now has over 12 million views on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Birdman: "I got enough power to help y'all"
Inmate: "Ok, We need books to read"
Birdman: "You think reading books gone help ya.."
— My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) June 19, 2024
On June 20, at the Pure Life Fest in Atlanta, rolling out asked Dr. Umar Johnson his thoughts on the moment.
What do you think of Birdman being in prison and telling the prisoners that books couldn’t help them?
I’m not going to speak on whether Birdman said it or not, because I didn’t see him, but I would hope nobody would dare say that.
Readers are leaders. Psychological liberation precedes political, economic and social liberation. We’re going to have to be knowledgeable. You can’t have dumb soldiers.
I think the great pan-Afrikanist Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso said an untrained soldier is a traitor waiting to happen. You have to have education before you can have revolution. I hope he didn’t say anything like that. That was extremely counterproductive.
