Just months after being convicted by a Swedish court of aggravated assault, rapper A$AP Rocky said he is planning to return to Stockholm.
According to Forbes, Rocky spoke with Summit co-founder Jeff Rosenthal about his music, fashion and his stint in a Swedish prison during an onstage interview at a conference in Los Angeles a week ago.
“When I was going through my whole situation, the whole time I used to look on television and see Swedish fans showing me so much love and I want to give it back,” Rocky said during the “Culture, Clothes, and Cultivating Creative Legacy” session of the conference.
Back in August, Rocky was forced to spend a much-publicized month in prison related to a post-concert street brawl.
The star rapper went on to reiterate the shocking news he broke a few weeks ago: that he plans to return to the country for a concert at the Ericsson Globe venue in Stockholm on December 11.
The 31-year-old told Rosenthal that his month-long stint in prison led him to bond with some of the inmates inside, many of whom were immigrants themselves and huge fans of his music. Unlike the global campaign that was pushed for Rocky, most of the inmates had spent months awaiting trial with few options for help, he said.
This inspired the rapper to donate all the proceeds from his December 11 concert to an immigrant rights organization in Sweden called FARR, the Swedish Network of Refugee Support Groups.
The Grammy-nominated rapper has also spoken about other prison reform efforts, including a move to redesign the prison uniforms and maybe some of the facilities he stayed in.
“I’m trying to do what I can with what I can, I just want to keep creating and encouraging whoever is after me to do it better,” he said.
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet confirmed that Kronobergshäktet prison officials have spoken with Rocky's lawyers. Detention Chief Fredrik Wallin told the newspaper that the rapper had already sent over designs for the new prison uniforms. They are still working out the details, but the design had the logo "PROMENVD" printed on the front.
Back in the states, Rocky was referenced during Wednesday's impeachment hearing testimony. EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland recounted having his memory triggered by the mention of the rapper, which he believed to be the subject of a phone call between himself and the president.
“that triggered my memory was ASAP Rocky” I’m dead ???? #asaprocky
#TrumpImpeachment
pic.twitter.com/Ean05ksGzq— TylerFtw1 (@TylerFtw123) November 20, 2019
Seems like Rocky is finding himself involved in politics in more ways than he imagined.
