According to the non-profit organization HelpGuide.org, physiological trauma is often the result of extraordinary, stressful events that shatter a sense of security, making a person feel helpless and vulnerable in a dangerous world. They further point out that trauma can stem from the ongoing stress of living in a crime-ridden neighborhood. Similar to young children in war zones, whose streets only offer corpses, gunfire, poverty and despair, many rappers have witnessed horrific acts of violence that provoked feelings of fear, vulnerability and powerlessness. Capone-N-Noreaga aptly titled their debut album, The War Report, and the streets of New York resembled just that, a battle zone. Neighborhoods were decorated with fatigues, artillery and a finger on the trigger to complete the look.
“My handicap took its toll on my sanity / My moms got me at the shrink at like 13 / And doctors call the cops on me / ‘Cause I be throwin’ I.V. poles when they ignore me / I gotta try to calm down and breathe / I can only hold it but for so long / Put me to sleep / Do I sound insane, if I do / Then this here was written for you / ‘Cause you could never feel the pain nigga…” –Prodigy, “You Can Never Feel My Pain.”
Diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, the late (and great) Baatin from Slum Village also struggled to control his thoughts. Band mate T3 says he didn’t initially know about his condition but later noticed Baatin’s bipolar tendencies while on tour. In a previously unpublished portion of a conversation with HipHopDX on February 13, 2013 he said, “There’s no way he should’ve been in a group with us without his mom pulling me to the side and saying, ‘Make sure he takes his medicine.’ No disrespect to his mom, because I love his mom. It’s just saying the black community doesn’t address that stuff head on,” said the Detroit native. Baatin, like so many others with mental illnesses, also battled with substance abuse. In fact, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, as much as 50% of the mentally ill population also has a substance abuse problem. The drug most commonly used is alcohol, followed by marijuana and cocaine.