Expressing Conflict Through Hip-Hop: How Acknowledging the Conflict of Mental Health Can Save Lives Arianna Vega Course: Experiences in Literature Professor: Jason Myers Student: Arianna Vega Essay: Expressing Conflict Through Hip-Hop: How Acknowledging the Conflict of Mental Health Can Save Lives
Assignment: For this section of ENG 1500, students were able to choose their own topics. They could either expand an earlier discussion board post into a longer paper or develop their own focus and direction, as long as the
paper performed an analysis of at least one primary source hip-hop and/or literary text as well as integrated at least two outside sources.
One major issue that is typically stigmatized and ignored in America is mental health; and more specifically that suicide is the tenth most leading cause of death in the United States (americashealthrankings. org). Still, even being within the top ten leading causes of death, suicide is something that goes unspoken of in public discourse. In more recent years, some popular hip-hop artists are beginning to take up this charge in rapping about mental health. Some examples of hip-hop artists that have done this are Mac Miller, Kid Cudi, and Logic. One particular song that highlights the struggle of finding oneself and making it out of a suicidal and depressive state is “1-800-273-8255” by Logic featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid. In this song,
Logic shows the struggles of a person that feels out of place and uncomfortable expressing who they really are. One of the most important messages of the song “1-800-273-8255” lies in the title itself. The title is the number of the suicide hotline and made more of an impact than one would think. According to Insider, “On the day that it was dropped, the hotline received the second-highest daily call volume ever with over 4753 calls” and on the day after the release, “the hotline received more than 5,000 calls.” With this, one can see that the song was more than just a song. It was able to make a life-saving impact and reach so many people. Furthermore, it goes to show that if mental health was 83
