Benny the Butcher is shedding more light on the 2020 Houston shooting that left him hospitalized.
During a recent appearance on the Breakfast Club, the 37-year-old Griselda rapper was asked whether artists can maintain their street presence after achieving a certain level of success. Benny explained it can be dangerous for well-known rappers to return to their old neighborhoods, “especially if you’re a real street n***a ...” he said. “I’m a street n***a. If I’m in the streets, n***as think I’m back.”
Benny then pointed to the ambush that took place more than two years ago at a Houston Walmart, where he was attacked by two men and ultimately shot in the leg.
“The shit in Houston, them n***as did some renegade shit,” he told the hosts (27:15), before he was asked to share more details on the incident. “I went into Walmart, I forgot my mask and I went back to get my mask, and there was some n***a behind me [and was] like, ‘Drop that.’ I look back and it was like this little short n***a behind me with a gun.”
Benny confirmed he was with a couple of friends during the attack; one walked with him back to the car, while the other went inside Walmart as Benny went back to the car to get his mask.
“You know this is the first time I’m talking about this shit publicly,” he continued. “My other man—that walked with me—they was on him before they was on me. So by the time they got on me, they already had my boy. So n***a was like, ‘Drop that.’ I look back, there’s a n***a with a gun. I kinda, like, hit the gun down and took off on him. I ran back to the whip. We in a Rolls Royce truck [...] By the time I get there, somebody else came with the slammer on ’em. I’m like, man, they got me. You know what I’m sayin’? So that’s when they backed up, looked around, and hit me in my leg.”
Benny was then asked if he was shot because he initially tried to flee. The rapper said he believes the gunman opened fire because he wanted to get the upper hand in case a scuffle ensued.
“I don’t think they shot me for running, to be honest,” he explained. “I don’t know, I can’t speak for them, but I feel like, it was a small dude and these was young dudes. I feel like—before I got shot, I was 195 [lbs]. I lost a little weight. I feel like n***as really didn’t want to get close to me until I was disabled.”
Charlamagne tha God went on to ask Benny if the incident changed his day-to-day life. The rapper said he now surrounds himself with more people and has tightened his security; but believes there’s only so much one can do to prevent these kinds of attacks.
“I’mma be honest with you: You can’t protect yourself from this shit,” he said. “N***as came like the army. So even, right now, how n***as be with security? That don’t be enough … for my situation, that wasn’t enough. It’s about not putting yourself in situations, and it’s about having a deterrent. If one of my homies is pulling out and (fires back), it’s too late—we already made the wrong move. If he gotta shoot at somebody, we already fucked up; we’re already in the wrong situation.”
You can check out Benny’s full interview above. He is now gearing up to release his much anticipated Tana Tank 4 project, which is expected to drop later this month.
