In the final shot of Kanye West’s video for his 2008 track Love Lockdown the rapper curls up into a foetal position in the middle of a bright white room, his head clutched desperately in his hands. It is a moment of vulnerability many might see as being at odds with the antagonistic, controversy-courting megastar, who declares himself a god, has snatched awards from the hands of Taylor Swift and makes dramatic outbursts on television chat shows.
Yet this week, as news broke of the singer’s hospitalisation in the psychiatric ward of UCLA, reportedly for stress and exhaustion following a week of erratic behaviour on stage and the subsequent cancellation of his tour, the pressures on hip-hop artists to conceal mental health vulnerabilities have come under almost unprecedented scrutiny.
That’s the question still. As much as I hate it when people get this, I have this guilty thought, like maybe this will lead to a cure. Then I think it is a selfish terrible thing and just wish him well.
He’ll be back doing his thing again in a couple months. DMX has bipolar disorder and went crazy a few months ago too. These guys always make it back somehow.
Some people have been talking about this on a conspiracy forum community I browse now and then. I skimmed the details of his behaviors and symptom red flags, seems a lot like mania (Bipolar 1) to me. People who are very manic not only might have delusions of grandeur, but they also often become very agitated/aggressive. In addition to the other things like not sleeping for days at a time, which some people close to him have reported that he experiences. I actually think him staying up for days at a time is a big giveaway that it’s probably mania.
Some conspiracy theorists believe that he’s been forcibly hospitalized because he started speaking out against the mainstream media and certain leftist politicians. Personally I think that’s just what got his behaviors more critical attention, since it has been such an emotionally charged election. But I don’t think it’s the case that he was a perfectly healthy person who is going to be “reprogrammed” just for speaking a dissenting opinion of the MSM and the government. It would be so random if that were the case, given how many famous people have spoken out in similar ways, and plus his history of symptomatic behavior has been pointing to mania problems for a long time.
AN update - seems like there may be a lot of challenges ahead for him. (Of course - be skeptical of any site like those below that traffic in rumors and such)
New Kim Kardashian, Kanye West report says ‘she asked for a break’
From some of the behaviour he’s displayed in the past, he’s shown signs of grandiose attitude and paranoia. I really hope he gets better. I don’t wish mental illness on anyone
A lot of hip hop artists have struggled with mental illness. My favourite is Aesop Rock and he writes a lot about psychiatric visits and medication … case in point:
But there are others. Cage is another one with a history of being institutionalised (but I don’t like him very much).
I’ve asked Mr Turtle for more names, he is having a think about it now. He knows more hip hop than I do.
Ol’ Dirty ■■■■■■■ definitely had mental health issues, and DMX has rapped about being “listed as a manic depressive with extreme paranoia,” and has had some very public battles with mental health and substance abuse. Pharoahe Monch spends a lot of time talking about the lack of mental health care in the black community. Kendrick Lamar has several songs about depression and suicidal thoughts, and even has a line that goes “they may say I suffer from schizophrenia or something.” There’s a lot of examples I could pick out.
