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IS ALWAYS ON THE
ITINERARYcase complicates debates al-
ready roiling in Swedish so-
ciety. Sweden, known for its
generous welfare state and
status as a peaceful haven
for recent migrants from the
Middle East and North Afri-
ca, is again debating how
best to integrate and sup-
port them. Right-wing pop-
ulists have seized on some
recent crimes in immigrant-
heavy neighborhoods to try
and thwart that mission.
Rocky’s trial has scram-
bled typical left-right alli-
ances and been a major
story in Swedish media for
weeks. In left-leaning Swe-
den, many have sympathy
for migrants but also see
Rocky as a victim of circum-
stance. Fear of crime has
stirred skepticism on the
right about Swedish polic-
ing and immigration —
along with pushback from
the left to avoid such stereo-
types. Meanwhile, a far-
right U.S. president, known
for racist and xenophobic
statements, tried to force a
wealthy European country
to release a black hip-hop
artist from jail. Most Swedes
loathe President Trump’s
interest in the case and
want justice to run its nor-
mal course.
“Left-wing Swedes are
really caught here,” said Dag
Blanck, professor of North
American studies at Upp-
sala University in Sweden.
“Swedes are sympathetic
towards the cause of African
Americans in the U.S., and
Sweden sees itself as a
champion of civil rights. But
this was an African Ameri-
can artist charged with as-
sault, and the person as-
saulted was a refugee, an-
other marginalized person
subjected to discrimination.
That’s a complication.”
On tour in Europe
ASAP Rocky surely did
not expect to become a
flashpoint for arguments
around Sweden’s crime and
immigration policies.
The Harlem-based rap-
per, co-founder of the larger
ASAP collective, has scored
two No. 1 Billboard 200 al-
bums and smash singles like
“F— Problems” with Drake,
2 Chainz and Kendrick
Lamar. Rocky was on tour in
Europe at the time of the al-
leged incident, which offi-
cials said occurred outside a
Stockholm restaurant as
members of Rocky’s team
tried to download an app to
rent some nearby scooters.
Rocky testified that Ja-
fari approached the group
asking if they’d seen a friend
of his, and after being told to
leave them alone, Rocky’s
bodyguard intervened and
a scuffle ensued. Prose-
cutors alleged that Rocky
and his companions beat
and kicked Jafari while he
was on the ground, possibly
using a bottle as a weapon.
Rocky and his two asso-
ciates, Bladimir Emilio
Corniel and David Tyrone
Rispers, pleaded not guilty
to assault charges and testi-
fied in Stockholm court that
they did all they could to
de-escalate the situation be-
fore it turned violent.
Swedish prosecutors had
asked for a six-month sen-
tence if found guilty.
“Me and my crew told
them that, ‘Listen, don’t go
where we are going. Go the
other way, we don’t want any
trouble,’ ” Rocky said in
court, according to wire re-
ports, adding that he “as-
sumed that these guys
were under the influence
of some kind of drug.”
“We’re in a foreign coun-
try, we’re approached by two
strangers with aggressive
behavior,” he said. “I don’t
know what to expect when
being attacked by strangers,
that’s why I have security.”
Swedish prosecutors,
however, alleged that Rocky
and his companions beat
and kicked Jafari after he
confronted them about a
pair of headphones broken
earlier in an argument.
“When [the bodyguard]
pushed me, I was both
offended and surprised,”
Jafari said in court, in re-
sponse to questioning. “Four
or five people afraid of me,
who’s not even half of their
body size?”
Almost immediately af-
ter the arrest, musicians
and celebrities including
Justin Bieber, Migos and
Sean “Diddy” Combs took
to the internet under the
mantle of #FreeRocky.
Trump’s unexpected in-
volvement was inspired by
an unlikely friend and ally,
West. (One of Rocky’s first
stops post-release was
West’s Sunday Service
concert, and he thanked
the rapper for his help).
Trump tweeted a pun-
ning reaction to the news
of Rocky’s release: “A$AP
Rocky released from prison
and on his way home to the
United States from Sweden.
It was a Rocky Week, get
home ASAP A$AP!” Rocky,
for his part, wrote (in all
caps): “I cant begin to de-
scribe how grateful I am
for all of you this has been a
very difficult and humbling
experience.”Familiar debates
Beyond the celebrity an-
gle, the case would other-
wise seem to be an ordinary
alleged street confrontation
gone south. But the ran-
domness of the alleged inci-
dent (and Jafari’s back-
ground) have been por-
trayed by the country’s far-
right Sweden Democrats
party and even more cen-
trist parties as examples of
escalating tensions.
While crime rates in Swe-
den are still dramatically
lower than in the U.S. (its an-
nual homicide rate is about
one-fifth of ours), high-pro-
file incidents have raised
fears in the extremely peace-
ful nation. A spate of
grenade attacks largely
blamed on weapons smug-
gled from nearby Baltic
countries has law enforce-
ment on edge, as have sev-
eral incidents involving
youth gangs.“Crime in general is not
on the rise here,” said Jerzy
Sarnecki, a professor at
Stockholm University’s de-
partment of criminology.
“One acute problem is the
rise of gang shootings in this
country, which we’ve never
had before. Hard-right pop-
ulists create a picture of the
dangers of immigration, and
that’s just not correct, ac-
cording to the figures.”
Race and country of ori-
gin certainly are factors in
how these issues are de-
bated in Sweden. The gov-
ernment has taken pains to
avoid implications that race
or migrant status has any
causal relationship with
crime.
In 2017, Prime Minister
Stefan Löfven stopped up-
dating statistics of crimi-
nals’ country of origin, and
he has been outspoken
about advocating for better
integration programs and
the virtues of diversity. But
even the center-left Social
Democrats have announced
plans to hire 10,000 new po-
lice officers and increase
sentences for violent crimes.
“ASAP comes from an
American context where Af-
rican Americans are sub-
jected to potential racist
violence,” Blanck said. “In
the trial, he came across aspolite and explained these
things. It was an American
reaction to a situation
that in a Swedish context
wouldn’t be seen as threat-
ening.”
That Rocky was jailed
before trial on such rela-
tively minor charges also
caused some confusion,
even if Sweden’s lack of a
cash bail system is argu-
ably more equitable.
“It was not only Trump
that criticized Sweden, but
ASAP’s mother who said
Sweden was racist,” Blanck
added. The Congressional
Black Caucus, including
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-
N.Y.), protested Rocky’s de-
tainment as well. “The
Swedish ambassador had
to explain that one cause
of surprise was that Sweden
has no bail. In Sweden, you
can’t buy yourself out of
jail,” Blanck said.
Benjamin Katzeff Silber-
stein, a scholar at the For-
eign Policy Research Insti-
tute in Philadelphia, a col-
umnist for the center-right
Swedish magazine Svenska
Dagbladet and a former ad-
viser to a Swedish cabinet
official from the Moderate
(conservative) party, said
that “surreal doesn’t even
begin to describe” the par-
ticulars of the Rocky case.But its reality-show twists
have put a global spotlight
on Sweden’s debates on
crime.
“There is absolutely
much legitimacy around
these concerns,” he said.
“The issue that’s debated
is what the policy implica-
tions are.”Tensions amplify
However, interventions
from Rocky’s unexpected
ally — Trump — haven’t
made anyone’s choices
easier.
In tweets tagged “#Free-
Rocky,” Trump said he was
“very disappointed in Prime
Minister Löfven for being
unable to act. Sweden has
let our African American
Community down in the
United States. I watched
the tapes of A$AP Rocky,
and he was being followed
and harassed by trouble-
makers.”
Trump’s interest in the
case almost certainly stems
from his friendship with
West and his wife, Kim Kar-
dashian, rather than an
interest in racial justice in
policing. Among myriad
other examples, he had pre-
viously called for the exe-
cution of the Central Park
Five, young men of color
unjustly charged by policeand later exonerated, and he
used vulgar insults to attack
Elijah Cummings, a black
congressman representing
the Baltimore area. Hip-
hop culture has long been a
metonym for the American
right wing’s own racist ste-
reotypes about crime in
inner cities.
Trump’s tweets and pri-
vate conversations with the
prime minister added to
the perception that he was
meddling in the criminal
court proceedings of an al-
lied country. His decision
to send a special envoy for
hostage affairs, Robert C.
O’Brien, to monitor Rocky’s
trial (a case that was no
one’s definition of a hostage
crisis) only amplified those
tensions unnecessarily.
“My guess is that he’ll
be sentenced to a mild
sentence, and that’s it. All
the political discussions
here are related to interven-
tion by Trump and the pop-
ulist right,” Sarnecki said.
“There’s a lot of prejudice
towards [young immigrant
men], and populists want
them to leave the country.
The populist right uses this
argument of rising crime
and the system collapsing.”
Ironically, hip-hop has
been a way for Swedish im-
migrant and minority youth
to help bridge gaps and ex-
press themselves in this
era. Rappers like Silvana
Imam (Lithuanian Syrian)
and Eboi (Gambian Swe-
dish) are Swedish youth
who understand and docu-
ment the “third culture” that
comes from immigration.
On Imam’s song “Imam
Cobain,” she raps, “You say
my love is breaking the law
...Go kiss your ... swastika”
—a clear rebuke of parties
like Sweden Democrats,
whose followers would want
her family’s story to be im-
possible in Sweden. Eboi’s
recent album includes a
glossary of lyrics for Swedes
who might not understand
his allusive mix of slang and
dialects.
“We’re one of the most
Americanized countries in
terms of our popular culture.
My nephew told me ASAP
Rocky is very big in Sweden,
and many of his fans were
outside the courthouse sing-
ing his songs,” Blanck said.
Rocky’s case may well be
an isolated, surreal incident.
It has little to do with the
larger trends in Sweden
around fear of crime. It
may just be another exam-
ple of the American presi-
dent conducting policy on
tips from celebrity friends.
But it shows that in a tightly
connected, perpetual hot-
house news cycle, small-
scale incidents like this can
still swing debates in un-
likely directions.
Rocky, for his part, is
scheduled to play the Real
Street Festival in Anaheim
on Sunday.
“I don’t think it will have
any long-lasting effect on re-
lations,” Blanck said. “Swe-
den has been nervous, but I
think it’s somewhat of a cul-
tural misunderstanding.”Far more than just a rapper on trial
[A SAP Rocky, from E1]
ASAP ROCKYperforms in Brooklyn on May 5. The rapper’s arrest in Sweden on
assault charges sparked an internet firestorm among President Trump, others.Mike LawrieGetty Images