Key Takeaways
- On the Truth After Dark podcast, G Herbo says his young son recently saw online footage of his arrest and began asking if his dad had been to jail and whether he was a criminal.
- Herbo explains he told his son he carried a gun to protect their family and used the moment to teach him about the Second Amendment while stressing that he believes in being completely honest with his kids about the good, bad, and ugly.
- Rooting his parenting style in his own traumatic Chicago upbringing and PTSD diagnosis, he says he prioritizes emotional openness, refuses to shame his kids for crying, and is focused on making sure his children live safer, better lives than he did.
G Herbo has opened up about the time his son started asking questions about whether or he had ever been arrested.
During a recent appearance on the Truth After Dark podcast, the Chicago rapper recalled learning that his son had discovered footage of him online being arrested.
"His grandma called me like, 'Yeah, I think you gotta have a conversation with your son because he seen clips of you getting arrested and stuff like that,'" Herbo said (around the 12:59 mark in the video below). "He was like, 'Oh yeah, my dad ever been to jail?'"
Herbo said the questions concerned him because he didn't want his son forming an opinion of him based on arrest footage. "He asking questions, you know, and I ain't want to like have him thinking like I'm a criminal or nothing like that," he explained.
His son had specifically seen footage involving a firearm-related arrest and wanted to know why his father carried a gun. "He's like, 'Why you gotta carry a gun and stuff like that,'" Herbo recalled. "I'm like, 'It's really to protect me and to protect you and to protect our family.' I'm teaching him about his Second Amendment and all of that."
Rather than hiding the more complicated parts of his past, Herbo said he believes in being straightforward with his children. "I believe in being completely honest with my kids," he explained. "No matter what it is, the good, the bad, the ugly, all the parts of it, they see."
"Kids are smart," he continued. "You think you can manipulate them and you really can't. So I just believe in like full transparency."
That philosophy also applies to how Herbo teaches his children about emotions. He said he has never told them to "toughen up" for expressing themselves, noting that he still cries himself.
Herbo's parenting perspective is informed by his own childhood in Chicago. He said he witnessed his first murder at nine, was shot at 16 and was later diagnosed with PTSD.
Now, his focus is ensuring his children don't have to follow the same path. "I don't want my son to have to [crash out]," Herbo said. "And the objective of being a father is to make sure that your kids are better than you."
He added: "I feel like my dad did a great job in making sure I was a better version of him. So I got to do the same thing with my kids."
