Rapper Waka Flocka Flame Admits He Went Vegan Because He Was ‘Fat As F**k’

While rapper Waka Flocka Flame is primarily known for getting the club shaking, not many might know he lives a vegan lifestyle, and has actually done so since 2014. He didn’t get spooked into it by a Netflix documentary, or get berated by other vegans to join. For him, it was primarily about maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

The Atlanta rapper said in 2014 he was at his heaviest weight, over 300 pounds and unhappy. Dipping his toes in a vegan diet made sense to him, and the more he learned, the more invested he was in it, as he explained in a PETA-sponsored round table discussion with himself, rap mogul Russell Simmons, and R&B royalty Mya.

“In one month, I had gained like 45 pounds… I was tired of it,” Waka Flocka said of his life before turning vegan. “Trying vegan, I was just trying to be healthy.”

Waka Flocka said people would mistake him for an NFL player and he eventually “got tired of it.” Flame said he got into it little by little, slowly cutting off meats, trying to go pescatarian at one point, but even that wasn’t enough.

“I started doing my research… I seen the mercury in the seafood.” Waka Flocka said. “… I’m like all right, cool. Now I’m mindful of it, so when I bite into these little f*ckin’ shrimps, it’s bothering me. Then I really started getting into it.”

One of the most revealing things in Waka Flocka’s story, was that with his new diet, combined with a doctor-approved cleanse, he lost 34 pounds in 2 weeks.

Waka’s been invested in veganism ever since, working on his own line of vegan edibles, and even putting together a recipe for vegan blueberry muffins last year.

Even then, Waka Flocka said, “I just didn’t wanna be fat, I got tired of breathing hard, I got tired of my joints hurting.”

Oftentimes, PETA‘s trying to scare the crap out of us with gnarly videos of chickens getting beat, or cows looking all wobbly, but once in a while, they’ll put together something more down to earth, with real people discussing their real feelings. It was actually pretty cool watching three major entities in the hip hop world get together and discuss their health habits.

Russell Simmons explained that the major reason he went vegan was for the animals, while Mya admitted she initially got into her vegan lifestyle by way of a personal “willpower challenge.”

All three went vegan in totally different ways, and for totally different reasons, but in the end, all share a common vision.