Hip Hop Fixed Ed Sheeran’s Stutter, But What Else Is It Proven To Cure?
Ed Sheeran recently gave a heartwarming speech about his relationship with hip hop music. The “Thinking Out Loud” singer admitted that rapping helped him to finally stop stuttering. Recent studies have proven that hip hop is a definite cure for at least one other issue: depression.
A neuroscientist at Cambridge University has set up a program called Hip Hop Psych. The program is assembled in the university’s psychiatry department, where the hip hop genre is used as treatment for mental illnesses, including depression, according to the Guardian.Reportedly, the department landed on hip hop as the genre to use because unlike many other genres, hip hop has a large awareness of mental illness. Professor Becky Inkster made a statement about the power of hip hop to the human mind.
“It is rich in references to psychiatric illnesses that have not been properly explored and which could be of enormous benefit to patients.”
The clever professor also admitted that her own history with hip hop played a part in choosing the genre for psychiatric treatment.
“There is so much more to hip-hop than the public realizes. I grew up in the 90s during the golden era of hip-hop, when it exploded into mainstream culture.”
Professor Inkster attributes hip hop’s place in the world of psychiatry to the roots of the genre itself. The backgrounds of the people who created the genre include a heavy reference to struggle, which of course can cause stress, leading sometimes to mental illness.
“Many key rappers and hip-hop artists come from deprived urban areas which are often hotbeds for problems such as drug abuse, domestic violence and poverty, which are in turn linked to increased occurrences of psychiatric illnesses. These problems are rooted in their language and in their songs.”
Ed Sheeran specifically named Eminem as his hip hop helper in fixing his stuttering issues, which made him the source of teasing. Psychiatrists, however, believe that the true hip hop helpers are those who speak directly about issues. They have called these raps about reality, “therapy.” The professor at Cambridge University name artists like Professor Green, an English rapper. His song, “Lullaby,” is focused on his own battle with depression. Professor Becky Inkster indicates that the acknowledgement of mental illness is important in curing it.
“Hip-hop in general, and rap in particular, often carry messages that are much more complex than is generally appreciated. That makes it an ideal medium for helping individuals understand their psychological problems and for finding ways to deal with them.”
[Image via Billboard]
