Jauquin James Malphurs, better known as Waka Flocka Flame to the rap world, recently received an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humanitarianism and Philanthropy. According to Revolt, he actually dedicated his life to mental health awareness and suicide prevention a while ago when his brother, KayO Redd, who was also a rapper, committed suicide at age 22 back in 2013.
Malphurs reflects on the incident and regrets not picking the phone up when his brother called that day. “Before my little brother killed himself I ain’t pick up the phone,” he said in one interview. “I seen him call, I was like ‘f*** let me call KayO back as soon as this is over with’. I called him back, no answer.”
After that moment, he says that he decided that he wasn’t going to put so much time into rap music anymore, and that he felt like real world situations were constantly passing him by as he was trying to make everyone else around him happy. His mom and her manager launched a campaign soon after his brother killed himself called the No R.I.P. (Reckless Internet Posting) Foundation, which advocates media sites responsibility to limit harmful gossip online.
The School the Honored Dr. Waka Flocka With a Degree
The school that honored Waka Flocka with the Philanthropy and Humanitarianism degree is called the Bible Institute of American Theological Seminary, according to HBCU Buzz. The Bible Institutes of America are accredited internationally by what is called the Southeastern Global Accrediting Commission. They are actually licensed by the state of North Carolina and operate under a set list of guidelines and requirements.
The Board of Directors include Chief Apostle Dr. William R. McPhaul Sr. (Who is the President and Founder of the Bible Institutes of America), Pastor Bishop Dr. Vanessa McPhaul (who is the Vice-President and Co-founder of the Bible Institutes of America), Chief Servant Master Prophet Dr. Dean Bascombe (who is the Dean of both Internal Affairs as well as The School of Prophets) Dr. Mary C. Moses (who is the Dean of Financial and Student Affairs, and Dr. Tracy Ferguson (who is the Dean of Educational Leadership).
Dr. Waka’s Love of Animals
Many people in the rap world were unaware of the fact that he’s a huge lover of animals. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is an organization that “exposes animals suffering and laboratories in the food industry in the clothing trade and in the entertainment industry”.
Waka Flaka was actually a part of their Ink, Not Mink campaign, where he urges people in hip Hop to know what they are actually buying, because a lot of animals (such as rabbits, foxes and sometimes even cats and dogs) get hurt when developing certain clothing. In fact according to the PETA website sometimes these animals are electrocuted or even skinned alive.
Image from PETA.
“First of all I love animals,” he said in one video. “As a kid I had dogs, fish, iguanas, lizards. So how read about PETA, is I googled it and I learned about it. I learned that some people skin dogs, and I said I wouldn’t want nobody to skin my little puppy.”
