Death Be Not Proud: Suicide, Hip-Hop & Black Men In America [PHOTOS]

“Things can get overwhelming, that’s the bottom line,” Joe Budden tells Hip-Hop Wired about the steps that lead to suicide. The Love & Hip Hop New York star has been open about his battle with sobriety and spoke with us about the slow-moving issue taking down the Black male and Hip-Hop communities.

The last several months have seen the suicides of Capital Steez and Freddy E. Steez was only 19 and allegedly shot himself on Christmas Eve, while Freddy used Twitter to announce plans to take his own life. Before pulling the trigger, the West Coast rhymer sent out a series of tweets about being lonely, and apologized to his parents.  Although he was 22, new studies reveal that teens are more likely to seek help through social media.

Given his own demons, Budden can empathize with both youngsters. “I can’t speak to the mental state of the people that actually do it,” he adds. “Me, I’ve spoken about it before but I was never actually brave enough to do it; because contrary to popular belief, it does take some type of bravery to actually go through with that process.”

The deaths, including the loss of Violator Management founder Chris Lighty, and Kansas City chiefs player Jovan Belcher last year, have shone a spotlight on what continues to be a taboo topic among men in general, but particularly Black men and members of Hip-Hop culture. Lighty’s death was reported as a suicide, but family and friends (like 50 Cent, who opened an investigation into the matter) have disputed the claim. In Belcher’s case, he killed his girlfriend before driving to his team’s football stadium, where he  shot himself in front of his bosses.

 “Those are natural feelings that we all get sometimes,” -A$AP Rocky.

A potential factor in all of the aforementioned cases may have been a level of depression that either went completely unnoticed, or wasn’t taken seriously. “Men in general don’t seek health treatment,” notes Dr. Shirley Molock of George Washington University.

Molock is an expert on mental health, and  co-authored a study based around suicide prevention for Black youth. She says men aren’t more apt to talk about committing suicide, but have a greater follow through rate. “Men use fire arms, and hanging, or affixation. Women are more likely to use pills.”

According to a 2009  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report  the suicide rate of Black men was nearly four times that of Black women, but 60% lower than that of White males.  Failures to address mental health issues, like clinical depression, contribute to the growing figures.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

—

Photo: Tumblr

With depression, suffering from the mood disorder in the “clinical” sense is more mentally debilitating and can leave others around the person suffering unable to identify with, or relate to, certain behaviors. “When people are clinically depressed, one episode can be as long as six months,” Molock explains.  “You may not be down every day but you’re not yourself. [Your] range of emotional reaction is really stunted. It’s hard to feel joy, it’s hard to laugh. You may not be actively suicidal, but you don’t care either. You’re not motivated to live, you can’t plan ahead.

“When people have not experienced that level of depression, they don’t understand. When you’re clinically depressed and you break up with a partner it’s devastating, It’s really hard for other people to get what that feels like. They don’t get that you’re so tired that you can’t get out of bed.”

          “Men in general don’t seek health treatment. – Dr. Shirley Moclock”

Lighty, died in August 2012. He reportedly shot himself outside of his Bronx apartment after an argument with ex-wife, Veronica. For a successful executive who seemed at the top of his game, cracks in his personal life—like the break up of his marriage, and financial issues—could have contributed to the Bronx native’s tragic end. His death was mourned by fans, friends, and colleagues alike, and may have inadvertently acted as a blueprint for others suffering internally. “One of things that we worry about when someone well known commits suicide [is] when it’s romanticized. You get copy cats,” Molock adds.

Despite the death of other prominent  music figures like former Def Jam executive Shakir Stewart (who died in 2008 of  a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the bathroom of his Georgia home), Hip-Hop hasn’t exactly brought up any solutions to the mental health issue. As has always been the way of the culture, rap music can be so intimate in its content that lyrics sometimes mirror a diary entry, and if suicidal thoughts creep in, they tend to spill out onto records. Notorious B.I.G., Tech N9ne and Kanye West are among some of the MCs who have musically tackled the issue.

During the Los Angeles screening of his Runaway film in 201o, West spoke candidly to the audience about how the pressures of fame, and the death of his mother made for a cocktail of depression and suicidal thoughts. In the end it was West’s ego—the very thing that has been the source of his public scrutiny and musical genius—that helped push him though. Realizing his influence and large fan base turned a painful situation into a moment of empowerment. “There’s so many people that will never get the chance to have their voice heard, I do it for them,” he said at the event.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

And then theres A$AP Rocky. For the new rap school fans, A$AP is easily a star. Eclectic in both his fashion and song content, the Harlem native unveiled his suicidal thoughts on the Danger Mouse-produced track “Phoenix” released earlier in the year:

“It’s like you heard, God spoke, I’ve seen the ghetto gospel/The choir like my reefer and the preacher got my eyes low/Sister Mary Jane to make me see from singing high notes/The bible or the rifle, goodnight folks.

Bloody ink on my pen spelled suicide/Kurt Cobain even died cause you scrutinize/It’s a fine line between truth and lies/Jesus Christ never lied, still was crucified/That’s why I never judge another n*gga/Life’s a b*tch, but that bitch in love with other n*ggas.”

“Those are natural feelings that we all get sometimes,” Rocky said of the track (http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.22500/title.aap-rocky-discusses-his-suicidal-thoughts-on-phoenix)  “You hurt so bad and you’re going through so much pain to the point where sometimes you don’t even wanna live anymore. That’s how a lot of people think, whether we’d like to admit it or not and that’s all I was showcasing. It was that emotion…suicidal kinda emotions…I’m not glorifying it at all. I’m just basically telling you that sometimes I have suicidal thoughts. And maybe I should seek help, or maybe it’s not that deep.”

Although there is no solid way to combat suicide figures, Molock says that the media must be aware of the part it plays. “One of the things is [to] warn the media on how to report suicide because you don’t want to end up making it like glorified almost. You don’t want to report it that way, because that’s what kids tend to imitate. They may feel in their death, they can finally get the recognition that they weren’t getting [in life].”

If you, or anyone you know, is suffering from depression, mental illness, or have thoughts of suicide please see the information below.

Suicide Prevention Outlets:

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255

I’m Alive – www.imalive.org

The Trevor Project – www.thetrevorproject.org

Grad Resources – 1-800-472-3457

Vet2Vet  (veterans crisis hotline) – 1-877-838-2838

** To look up suicide hotlines by state, click here.