Inside hip-hop's complex relationship with health - NBC News

Such consistent public recognition of a rapper’s personal medical struggles hasn’t always been the norm in hip-hop culture.“A majority of rappers are Black men, especially in the ‘90s and early 2000s, and Black men want it to seem like nothing can affect them, like they’re invincible,” Freeway said. Like all of Black culture, hip-hop has not been monolithic in its approach to physical well-being.As much as a rapper’s medical condition could earn them a jab in a diss track, hip-hop has a long, rich history of prioritizing health and wellness both in the recording booth and the streets, according to Dave “Davey D” Cook, renowned hip-hop journalist and lecturer of Africana studies at San Francisco State University.“In terms of rappers, anything that’s considered a weakness, people are gonna say something about it. But from day one, hip-hop artists have always been about health,” Cook said. A 2017 study found that hip-hop is routinely used as a culturally relevant intervention to address mental and physical health among Black kids because “hip hop culture resonates so strongly with youth.” One example of such an intervention is Hip-Hop Public Health, a national music-oriented organization aimed at promoting health among young people. This shift is one of the things that is changing the way hip-hop is talking about mental health because our entire society is talking about mental health differently.”Hip-hop culture has long been a reflection of the times and conditions in which Black people live. However, among the culture shifts and change in public perception around many aspects of health, hip-hop has been slow to embrace disabled communities, said Leroy Moore, founder of Krip-Hop Nation, a national association of Black artists with disabilities.