In Case You Haven't Heard…

The most popular rap songs in the United States are increasingly referencing depression and suicide and mixing in metaphors about mental health struggles, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics . “These artists are considered the ‘coolest’ people on earth right now,” said lead study author Alex Kresovich, a doctoral student studying health communication at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Medical Xpress reported Dec. 7. “The fact that they are talking about mental health could have huge implications for how young people perceive mental health or how they look at themselves if they struggle with mental health, which we know millions and millions of young people do.” The proportion of rap songs that referenced mental health more than doubled from 1998 to 2018 — the year rap outsold country to become the best‐selling genre of music. “Artists are treading lightly and aren't going to say, ‘I'm depressed.’ But what they will do is describe feelings in a way that others with depression can understand and relate to,” he said, adding, “It also just may be really hard to rhyme the word ‘depression’ in a song.”