Rappers get sad, too.
With all of the hardcore rappers in the industry, we sometimes look over the ones who rap for the soul. I’m talking the rappers who rap about life’s struggles and everyday issues we as people deal with. We tend to forget that rappers are just like us — regular people. So, when they rap about broken hearts or depression, they tend to get scrutinized and made fun of.
Drake is always the center of jokes about his vulnerability. But that’s why he’s so successful. He raps real life situations about love, loss, family and heartache. Well, in most songs. Kanye West is one of the greatest rappers and producers of all time, but some forget when he went through a very dark depressed period after the death of his mom. Depression is a big deal in Hollywood, but no one speaks about it until it’s too late. Several celebrities have taken their own lives and you shouldn’t be surprised that rappers are a part of that number. Luckily for these rappers, they have bounced back from their darkest days.
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Kanye West
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If anyone was a fan of Kanye West from the beginning then you’d know the unconditional love he had for his mom, Donda West. So there was no surprise that he became very depressed after her unexpected death in 2007 due to complications after plastic surgery. He’s claimed to have blamed himself for his mom’s passing because of his move to Hollywood and has admitted to thoughts of suicide during his time of deep depression.
“Went through, deep depression when my momma passed
Suicide, what kinda talk is that?
But I been talking to God for so long
That if you look at my life I guess he’s talking back,” he rapped on his verse in “Clique.”
Iggy Azalea
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Iggy’s 2014 debut album, “The New Classic” was a success. It earned her an American Music Award and a Grammy nod. But hip-hop heads soon made her a target. It’s no secret that the hip-hop industry doesn’t respect Iggy Azalea and her craft. The Australian rapper receives tons of hate tweets from fans and disses from fellow artists.
In an interview with Power 106, Iggy admitted that she contemplated taking her own life after being the scrutinized. “Sometimes I would drive through the canyons to get to my horses, and I’d be like, ‘What if just kept driving off the canyon?’ Sometimes I just felt like that.”
Kendrick Lamar
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Kendrick Lamar’s music career has been a super success. But that had nothing to do with his feelings of depression. In the midst of the success of his debut album, good kid, m.A.A.d city and the recording of his second album, To Pimp a Butterfly , three of Kendrick’s friends from Compton were murdered.
He then began questioning his musical existence and in an interview with MTV, Kendrick admitted that those events made him slip into depression. “‘How can I be a voice for all these people around the world and can’t reach them like I want to? And they’re the closest to me?’ That’s a trip.”
