Waka Flocka Flame is looking at his life differently since welcoming his son.
The rapper recently shared a candid photo his wife took of him asleep with their baby boy resting against his chest. Seeing the two of them together prompted Waka to reflect on fatherhood, his past and everything he endured to reach this point in his life.
“My wife sent me this off-guard picture, and it hit me different,” he began.
“I love putting my son inside my white beater, skin to skin, letting him hear his father’s heart. Sometimes it beats calm, and sometimes it races…because I’m still nervous. I’m still trying to understand that I’m holding a reflection of me. A whole life that came from me. An answered prayer laying on my chest.”
As Waka took in the image, he began thinking about the journey that brought him to this moment.
“Then I looked at this picture and realized one thing…this is what I worked for.”
“This is what I stood on stages for the last 18 years for. What I got stabbed for, shot for, robbed for, handcuffed for, survived for, succeeded for, and evolved for.”
For Waka, surviving those experiences means his son does not have to follow the same path.
“Not so my son could repeat my story …but so he would never have to.”
“I’m from the streets in real life, and I’ll never be ashamed of where I come from. But my son will never believe he has to be accepted by the streets. Nah, boy. Your daddy already did that. Your daddy already paid that price for us.”
Waka, 40, welcomed his son, Juaquin Jr., in June. While the baby is his first biological child and first son, the rapper has long considered Charlie, the daughter of his ex-wife Tammy Rivera, his daughter.
In fact, Waka previously pushed back against being called a first-time father following Juaquin Jr.’s arrival, making it clear that he considers himself a father of two.
Still, welcoming a baby at this stage of his life has given Waka a new perspective on fatherhood and timing.
“They never told me fatherhood felt like this,” he wrote in an August 1 post.
“I thought I was holding my son… but the truth is, he was holding together every empty place in my heart.”
“Maybe waiting made me appreciate it more. Maybe having a child with the right woman changed everything.”
He continued, “Either way, this little man made me realize I was never missing success…. I was missing him. ❤️👣 #lilWaka”
