On Tuesday, rapper and actor Kid Cudi announced that he is stepping away from music and performing to seek professional treatment for “depression and suicidal urges.” “I am not at peace,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “I haven’t been since you’ve known me. If I didn’t come here, I would’ve done something to myself. I simply am a damaged human swimming in a pool of emotions everyday of my life. There’s a ragin’ violent storm inside of my heart at all times. Idk what peace feels like. Idk how to relax.”
The whole message is worth reading for its candor about a topic that is often stigmatized or swept under the rug. It’s telling that he feels the need to apologize and to admit that he feels “ashamed” to have let others down: Cudi’s words came just one day after Donald Trump implied that war veterans who seek medical attention for post-traumatic stress disorder aren’t “strong.” They also come at a time when many high-profile police shootings involve a black victim suffering from mental health issues—occurrences that highlight our culture’s ineptness in engaging with and treating those with mental illness.
In the wake of Cudi’s revelations, the hashtag #YouGoodMan is now trending on social media, with the intention of helping to remove the stigma that so often accompanies depression within the black community.
Last month, the rapper called out Kanye West and Drake on Twitter, claiming, they “don’t give a fuck about me.” At the time, the Twitter outburst seemed like the makings of a good old-fashioned rap beef, and sure enough Kanye and Drake each responded in their own typically blustery ways. But in the light of Cudi’s latest statement, his words, along with West’s subsequent peace offering a week later (“I just wanted to take time out to say Kid Cudi is my brother and I hope he’s doing well”) feel sadder. West himself has rapped on more than one occasion about taking the antidepressant Lexapro.
But in a way, that’s a good thing. Cudi’s willingness to admit his vulnerabilities to himself and to the rest of the world could go a long way to helping others feel more comfortable seeking help for mental health problems. Rappers are often treated like superheroes, and hearing that even they sometimes struggle with depression might help others to not feel ashamed.
