‘I couldn’t go to none of the funerals’: Rapper Big Yavo talks Birmingham gun violence with Woodfin

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin hosted an on camera conversation with rapper Big Yavo, posted Wednesday, about the city’s ongoing gun violence issue.

Yavo, who is originally from Birmingham, and grew up in Ensley, has built a rap career that has captured a national audience. However, a lot of the music he’s produced has talked about killing people.

He’s most known for the songs, “I’m Him”, “Rich”, “No Pen”, “Like Yay”, and “Sean Kemp”.

In the 18-minute YouTube video, the mayor opens up the conversation around fatherhood and how having an active father in a child’s life makes a difference.

The mayor then asked Yavo, “Is it fair to say that your own sound, your own words, your own lyrics, is a product of your own community?”

The rapper agreed.

Then the conversation pivots to Woodfin and Yavo discussing how gun violence has directly impacted them personally. Woodfin starts off saying how he lost two cousins this year, his brother some years ago, and a nephew, all from gun violence.

“I see the pain man, I’ve seen the pain in my mom. I’ve seen the grief. The tears. The screams. I’ve seen it, but I’m tired of seeing it. I’m tired of seeing young people kill each other,” Woodfin said.

Yavo explained that it’s hard for him to put into words because he recently just lost three brothers.

“These are people I really love. I can’t explain it. But I couldn’t go to none of the funerals because I don’t trust nobody. I love them, but it’s people around them or people they loved, that I can’t trust,” Yavo said.

He also went on to explain that before his people were killed, he tried to get them to come on the road with him, and then he gets blamed for their death.

Yavo took a moment in the conversation to plead for people to stop with the violence. He said that people have to realize that there’s so much more to life.

“I’ve been in the streets. If you really from the streets, you want to get out. If you really came from that, then your goal is to exit. But it’s different now, these kids want to stay...the streets ain’t nothing no more. Y’all killing each other for what? Everybody mama just gonna keep crying,” the rapper said.

The rapper claims that he’s changed his music over time.

“I be trying to change my words. My mother even told me this, ‘you gotta change up your words.’ Teach the youth something different. So I definitely be working with my words. If you listen to my old music to now, it’s totally different,” Yavo said.

Also, the rapper makes it clear that he’s only talked about being reactive, or doing something to others, if someone were to do something to him, in his music.

At the end of the conversation, Yavo said that he wants kids to know that they can be whatever they want to be in life and just be yourself.

He said, “I’m blessed. All I wanted was a better car for me and my mama. Now, I’m sitting here with the mayor.”

Homicides in Birmingham and all of Jefferson County rose in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same time last year.

There were 75 homicides in Birmingham from January through June, up 10 slayings compared to the same time in 2023. That’s more than a 15% increase.