Abdul Haqq, better known as Big Durk, recently shared his thoughts on the indictment of his son Lil Durk in a thought-provoking video posted to Instagram.
Though Haqq expressed his skepticism with the timeline of Durk’s arrest, he declined to comment on the specifics of the charges his son faces in the post shared by former 2Pac collaborator Mutah Beale. While taking a moment to thank Durk’s supporters, Haqq also made it a point to point out his son is one of the main artists from the city of Chicago who has been vocal about social justice and community reform.
“We would first like to thank everyone for their support, their love,” Haqq began, addressing fans and supporters. “The encouraging words that they gave us as a family. We thank the fans and everyone who stood by us. I leave all legal issues to the lawyers to break that thing, what’s dealing with that legal issues behind it,”
As he continued, Haqq expressed concern about the circumstances surrounding the indictment.
“It’s mighty strange,” he said in part. “That once he started doing good out there, once he stayed away from all the gang banging and dissing the dead and doing things out there in the street, when he turned his life around, when he on his dean now, practicing religion, doing things for the community, bringing about peace in Chicago and throughout various cities, all of a sudden now he’s being indicted.”
Haq also appeared to highlight an element of religious discrimination could have also factored into the timing of the indictment, which came shortly after Lil Durk’s involvement in a Muslim conference calling for peace in Chicago.
“Just right off the Muslim conference that we had in Chicago calling for peace,” he said. “Now, three to four days later, he’s being indicted after that.”
He also pointed to Lil Durk’s recent efforts to raise awareness about violence in Chicagoby remarking on his birthday benefit concert — during which the “All My Life” rapper held a digital vigil commemorating lives lost in the city while onstage.
“When he put up on his concert, all the people that got killed in Chicago showing that this is not what it’s about, again, he get indicted,” he said before emphasizing. “But now he’s being indicted for that.”
Calling on the public to “look at the bigger picture,” Big Durk suggested that the legal system often targets those who strive to make positive changes in their communities. He backed up his rationale by referencing the lucrative operation that is the for-profit prison pipeline behind America’s mass incarceration phenomenon.
“Look at what the government trying to do,” he said. “They always got the whole thing is you doing wrong, you doing bad, then that’s good for them because that fill up the prisons. But when you start doing right and telling people to stop doing wrong, then all of a sudden you’re an enemy to them and they have to lock you up,” he concluded.
Following his arrest in 1993 over his involvement in a cocaine ring, Haqq was sentenced to life in prison in 1994. He spent 25 years in prison before he was released and able to experience the success his son had gained worldwide as one of the top Chicago artists. Haqq previously claimed that authorities offered him freedom and a job as an informant if he would provide them incriminating information on Gangsta Disciple co-founder Larry Hoover. Haqq’s address on his son’s behalf follows Durk’s 11-year-old son’s public message regarding his father’s character following his arrest over murder for hire charges in October.
Watch Haqq’s full address on the matter in the post above.
