In his book Life & Def, Russell Simmons tells the story of a drug episode that went bad for Slick Rick. “I first met Slick Rick at a nuthouse. He’d smoked too much angel dust and had to stay in a mental ward for a few days,” Simmons wrote. “Rick Rubin at Def Jam and Lyor Cohen at Rush Management both thought we should sign him. So I went with Rick to meet him at the hospital. Ricky was completely out of it. I’d seen a lot of people in that dusty state in the street—I’d been that way myself—so I knew that after a few days he’d be fine.” But not everyone is so fortunate. Take G. Dep. The former Bad Boy was tormented by a murder he committed as a young man. The guilt, likely exasperated by his PCP drug use, forced the “Special Delivery” rapper to turn himself in for a crime no one knew he committed. In a New York Magazine article he says, “It was really at a point where I used to hear voices, and my conscience used to tell me: ‘What you did was wrong,’” he says. Trevell “G. Dep” Coleman, who had been admitted to mental wards at least three times, was sentenced to 15-years to life.
Almost two years ago, Earl “DMX” Simmons admitted to having a mental illness, “I used to be really clear on who was what and what characteristics each personality had. But I don’t know at this point. I’m not even sure there is a difference [between X and Earl],” he told Susan Casper of Arizona’s ABC15. For years we’ve watched outbursts and countless arrests from the Y.O. native and to some extent blamed it on his well-documented battle with drugs. It was probably easier to ignore the signs of mental illness when he was selling upwards of 13 million albums between 1998 and 2000. There are rappers who seemingly might have a mental issue but have labeled it as a drug problem. Many have speculated about rappers like Eminem and even the late ODB. Eminem, who admitted to struggling with a prescription pill addiction in the past, has a library of songs that are riddled with lyrics that point to depression, the deepest kind of sadness. Heavy thoughts and drug abuse are often rooted in an inability to properly manage thoughts in a healthy way. For some rappers, it’s sexier to be on cocaine than chlorpromazine.
“I just went into such a dark place that, with everything, the drugs, my thoughts, everything,” Eminem told XXL in the April 2009 issue. “The more drugs I consumed, and it was all depressants I was taking, the more depressed I became, the more self-loathing I became. By the way, I’m just now at the point where I’m better talking about it. It took me so long to get out of that place where I couldn’t even speak about it without crying or wanting to cry. Proof was the anchor. He was everything to D-12. And not just the group – for me, personally, he was everything.”