Last week the Big Boss of the South, Slim Thug took to Instagram to reveal that he tested positive for the Coronavirus. Slim’s story was alarming because he took every necessary precaution such as quarantining and staying home.
“I stayed in my truck and wore mask and gloves,” the Houston rapper said. Slim also urged his followers to take the Coronavirus seriously and not leave the house adding that if anyone is experiencing symptoms to go and get “checked out.” Days later the Houston Hip Hop community was hit again when rapper Scarface announced he also tested positive for COVID-19.
We got the chance to speak with Slim Thug about the testing process, the importance of social distancing, and his latest album, Thug Life.
Earlier this week you shared that you tested positive for COVID-19, how are you feeling today?
Slim Thug: Today I feel normal. Today I feel like I’m over it. I don’t know how I’ll feel later but I haven’t felt bad since I’ve had it. What alarmed me from the beginning was I had a headache and a fever; I never have those symptoms. I sometimes have sinus infections, but I rarely have fevers or headaches, so I went to my doctor and got checked out. I feel like the bad part is over. I also had shortness of breath for a while but I’m breathing better today.
You shared a video of you at the doctor’s office, we saw you getting swabbed, but can you walk us through anything else the doctor may have done?
They just perform a normal procedure. They check your vitals and they ask you questions and check both nostrils. It wasn’t anything painful are too crazy.
They don’t have a vaccine right now, but they prescribe you any medicine?
When I got my headache over the weekend and my fever was slight, it wasn’t even over 100. So, when I got to the doctor’s office, I was already coming off of the symptoms, but they did prescribe me some hydroxychloroquine and a Z-Pak because that’s what people have been saying that is working for them.
I saw you taking a holistic approach by using orange peels and sea salt, how did that work out?
I had shortness of breath which caused the top of my throat to feel tight so when I used the orange peels and sea salt it opened my lungs. Inhaling the steam made me breathe deeper so it’s working.
I know someone who expressed that they are experiencing symptoms connected to the Coronavirus, but they are scared to get tested, what advice would you give someone in that position?
Ignoring problems won’t make them disappear, especially with your body. I’m a hypochondriac so for anything, I’m running to the doctor. The reason why I think like that is I always want to be ahead of the problem, I don’t want it to be like you waited too late now you have three days to live. Whenever there is an issue, I want to figure out what it is and how to get to the bottom of it. I think the smart thing to do with your body and health is to go and get it checked out if you are feeling sick.
They are strictly enforcing social distancing, but we still see people going out. One thing I find funny about your Instagram account is how you urge people to use their common sense
That’s what I realize. I did a study on people and I realized common sense isn’t common. I don’t care what year this is. A lot of people making up a dumb reason to not believe the coronavirus is real. This isn’t a game. This is real life. If you can’t take that seriously then it just shows the type of mind frame you have, and you can’t take anything seriously.
You shared a video of Willie D speaking with Scarface about his experience with the Coronavirus and captioned it “Yall still think its fake?” How do you respond to people who believe that the coronavirus is fake and that celebrities are being paid to say they tested positive?
Scarface had it worse than me. When I talked to him the other day, he didn’t sound good. You could hear it in his cough. Mine wasn’t that bad, you can look at Scarface and tell he is still getting over it. It’s real. We are probably two of the most real rappers in the game, we are not with the clout. It’s just shocking that people think that I would even play like that. Why would I want to say that I have a virus? It doesn’t make sense. The coronavirus is affecting everything. At the end of the day, I’m not playing any games. I would never play like that or fake it.
You mentioned the coronavirus is affecting everything, We are seeing job loss and businesses shutting down which means people are losing their insurance but now they are offering free testing do you think this will be beneficial?
I think there are going to be a lot of who will go get tested, but I think the numbers will be crazy. Everybody thinks they don’t have it. Me for example, I didn’t have any real symptoms so you can have it and not have any symptoms. Hopefully, with all of the tests being taken they can find out how many people have, and we can get to the bottom of this. We have already passed up China and the other countries with the most cases and they are nowhere near done. People are saying that celebrities are getting paid to say they have it, but they are the only ones who took a test. If you are in the NBA, you have a personal doctor. I also have a personal doctor.
We also need to lockdown. If everybody locked down for two weeks and let it pass, then we can move on. With this lockdown, it will be slowed down tremulously but we still have people not listening so that could extend our period longer because people are not complying.
You dropped Thug Life this past week, furthermore, we have been seeing the different artist and DJ’s host Instagram live concerts, how do you feel about using music as therapy during this time?
Music is therapy, that’s why I wanted to put this project out. If it was more casual rap, then I would have pushed it back. The music matches the time right now. I did some serious work, grown man work. This was a personal album for me, and I just wanted to put out music that will encourage people and be therapy for people. I think this is one of those projects. I’m very proud of it. We are receiving great feedback so I’m very happy.
Do you have any words last words for the people we are not going to practice social distancing and for the people who are overly buying products at the grocery store?
Yes! You don’t have to do all of that, the stores are open, so you don’t have to do all of that extra stocking up. I know people are paranoid thinking the stores will close so that isn’t necessary. What is necessary is making sure you keep your social distance, don’t get anyone sick and you don’t get sick. That’s what we need to focus on, if we can do that for the next two weeks then America will be great. A younger person may fight it off but an elder can’t so practice social distancing.