Kevin Gates Criticizes #TakeAKnee: 'You Meet Force with Force'

In a new interview with Sway, Kevin Gates took a hard stance on an issue that's been fairly divisive: Colin Kaepernick’s National Anthem protests.

September 25, 2018

With Kevin Gates’ forthcoming mixtape Luca Brasi 3 set to drop later this year, the Baton Rouge rapper is on the up-and-up following his first post-prison offering and the tape's lead single, “Adding Up.”

Speaking with Sway about everything from being a father to pleading guilty on a firearm charge and Mac Miller’s death, Gates took a hard stance on an issue that’s been fairly divisive: Colin Kaepernick’s National Anthem protests.

“I look at social injustice as bullying,” Gates said to Sway. “Bullying of people that you feel like you’ve got to up some because they are weaker people, but they’re really strong. You’ve just got to keep these people weak in their minds. I don’t bow. I’m willing to die for what I believe in. And I’ve been a victim of police brutality.”

Gates continued, “Like I say, they’ve got some police who are assholes. They got some that are not. It’s not a shot at them. It’s not a shot at Colin Kaepernick. But you don’t make the bullies stop by taking a knee. You meet force with force.”

Gates added, referencing his religion, “We bow to no one under the stars, but God. And that’s not even Islam. That’s just, we don’t bow. Not as kings. We don’t bow. Before I’d be a slave, I’d rather be buried in my grave. I would die before I’d be that. I’m not taking no knee. I’m sorry. Like taking a knee for me, I relate the streets to football a lot. You know, I quarterback a great team. I’m the quarterback of a great team.”

Gates’ conversation with Sway follows his interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1, where he was very open about his opinion on rehab. “Rehab is for quitters,” he told Zane. “You have to replace negative habits with positive habits, because everything for me is a trigger. So, rehab is for quitters. And it’s so many people that come to me and tell me hey, your music has helped me. So, I'm not trying to be an advocate for people that battle with depression, but I know that I am.”