Last year, the city of Houston drew the unlucky straw, and was reluctantly introduced to Hurricane Harvey—a Category 4 storm that viciously swept through the city, causing insurmountable damage, along with the loss of lives. Slim Thug was one of the people that took on the brunt of Hurricane Harvey, and during the aftermath, helped others pick up the pieces, and try to regain some normalcy.
The Boss’ Hurricane Harvey REPRESENT initiative with his construction company, Boss Life Construction, and Radio One Houston are donating a home to a family who lost it all in the storm. The winner will be selected on September 26.
Hip-Hop Wired spoke to Slim Thug about the storm, and how he pitched in to help his hometown recover, like a Boss..
HipHopWired.com: When you realized that Hurricane Harvey was headed your way, what was your initial reaction?
Slim Thug: We already had a few hurricanes in Houston, so we really wasn’t tripping. They said it was gonna be bad, but we didn’t know just how bad it was going to be. It was really questionable. But I just don’t like being without power, so this one right here caught us off guard for real.
“I’m definitely not leaving Houston. At the end of the day, we’re a tough city and we can bounce back.”—Slim Thug
HipHopWired: So you did lose power to your home?
Slim Thug: Yeah, I definitely lost power. The same thing with my family too, but we pretty much made it through.
HHW: With that being said, was the area of Houston that you live in hit really hard by [Hurricane] Harvey?
Slim Thug: The area that I live in was really messed up, but my actual house didn’t get damaged.
HHW: Was anyone really close to you affected tragically by [Hurricane] Harvey?
Slim Thug: Yeah, a lot of other people in my neighborhood. Everyone around me was affected. But also, there were a lot of people that didn’t get affected by the hurricane. It wasn’t the whole entire city; it was just certain areas that got hit really bad. A lot of places got hit really hard, but it wasn’t the whole entire city, because Houston is huge.
HHW: James Harden from the Houston Rockets donated one million dollars, and the Houston Texans’ J.J. Watt helped raise over 15 million dollars in relief efforts. How was it like seeing people who aren’t from Houston put on for your city?
Slim Thug: It was all love man. Everyone came up, stepped up and showed love from all over the world. They gave us a lot of help. But right after that, a few more hurricanes hit a few other places; and it got real crazy. But we were really thankful about how the whole country came up, stood up and helped. We had a lot of help from everywhere out there.
HHW: Speaking of showing up for the city, you did a comedy roast with you being the guest of honor, while donating all the proceeds into a fund to help repair homes. How did that idea come about?
Slim Thug: The roast was already taking place, because it was for my birthday weekend. We had the roast already set up, but after the hurricane hit, we just decided to donate the proceeds to the hurricane victims.
HHW: Was it difficult being the one getting roasted, knowing that you want to snap back, but can’t?
Slim Thug: [Laughs] I got thick skin. Me and my homeboys, we kill each other every day on that type of sh*t. There isn’t no one out there better than me and my homeboys at that. I wasn’t tripping on that at all.
HHW: Can you talk about some of the devastation you saw during the aftermath of [Hurricane] Harvey?
Slim Thug: There was roofs ripped off of houses; that was everywhere. Anything you can imagine. When that water hit, it was as high as the ceilings in a lot of homes. A lot of people lost everything they worked for. It was crazy. There was just so much water damage, and it was all over.
HHW: Usually when a natural disaster strikes, a person’s first instinct is to relocate completely from the area. Even though you’re born and raised in Houston, did you ever contemplate moving to another city, or state?
Slim Thug: I’m definitely not leaving Houston. I’ve been everywhere, but this is my home, and where I feel like I’m at home. I just can’t leave the city—I’m good. At the end of the day, we’re a tough city and we can bounce back.
We’re still bouncing back now. It’s back to normal for a lot of people, but there are still plenty others that are still being affected. If you look at the city as whole, we came back from it. But like I said, some people had it harder than others.
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