October 5, 2016

Rapper Kid Cudi Gets Black Men Talking About Depression

People take up #YouGoodMan on Twitter to share their own mental health struggles.

Miguel Vasconcellos/ZUMA Wire

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Rapper Kid Cudi told his fans and followers on Tuesday that he had checked into a rehabilitation center to treat his ongoing battle with mental health issues. He wrote about his struggles in a Facebook post :

“Its been difficult for me to find the words to what I’m about to share with you because I feel ashamed,” he wrote. “Ashamed to be a leader and hero to so many while admitting I’ve been living a lie…Yesterday I checked myself into rehab for depression and suicidal urges. I am not at peace.” 

This is not the first time Cudi, who’s real name is Scott Mescudi, has spoken publicly about his mental health. Earlier this year, he talked to Billboard about the pressure of wanting to appear fine while he was using drugs to address his depression: “I thought about how much of a struggle it has been the past eight years, to be in the news and pretend to be happy when, really, I was living a nightmare.”

Cudi has received numerous music awards—including a Grammy and various MTV awards—and has appeared in movies (Need for Speed; Entourage) and TV shows (Brooklyn Nine-Nine; Scorpion). His latest album is set to be released soon, but Cudi has said he won’t be around to do much of the promotion. In his Facebook post, he went into detail about how depression and anxiety have crippled his life:

“If I didn’t come [to rehabilitation], I would’ve done something to myself. I simply am a damaged human swimming in a pool of emotions everyday of my life. Theres a ragin violent storm inside of my heart at all times. Idk what peace feels like. Idk how to relax. My anxiety and depression have ruled my life for as long as I can remember and I never leave the house because of it. I cant make new friends because of it. I dont trust anyone because of it and Im tired of being held back in my life. I deserve to have peace. I deserve to be happy and smiling.”

The rapper’s emotional post sparked a conversation on Twitter, where people all over the country—especially black men—tagged Tweets with the hashtag “#Yougoodman” to tell of their own struggles with mental health. Here are some of them:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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