Get Your Mind Right: Hip Hop & Mental Illness

Mental disorders are real. In fact, they are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. According to The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an estimated 26% of Americans ages 18 and older — that’s one in four adults! — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. So with stats like that, how could we think Hip Hop wouldn’t be affected? There’s a stigma in many of our communities, especially among African Americans, which leads to many mental illnesses going undiagnosed. Denial and an unwillingness to seek professional help often results in substance abuse (drugs or alcohol) or continued erratic, irrational behavior. That rapper who’s a “wild boy” and whose behavior is unpredictable (even by Hip Hop’s standards) might be bipolar or schizophrenic. Remember Gucci Mane’s random ice cream cone face tattoo and the trip to a mental facility only a few days before? Of course, questionable tattoos do not a mental episode make, but given his fitful behavior leading up to the ink, some might speculate that a bigger mental issue was at play.

Emcees & Their Public Struggles With Mental Stability

“I’m not insane, or at least I don’t think so / Or am I / You think so doc, truthfully I don’t know / So what do I do / I go to my crew and ask for help / But they ain’t no help, they go through the same shit they damn self / So I look deep into the mind of a crook / Then out of nowhere I envision two right hooks / Ah damn again goes this shit / I can’t get out of this cycle / This one got me whipped / On a thought of a brain bashin’ / Doctor stop me / Before I blow my motherfuckin’ top, G…” –Rockness Monstah, “Therapy.”

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