Run DMC rapper Darryl McDaniels has been talking about his struggles with mental health and how he “relates” to Kurt Cobain.
McDaniels, aka DMC, one of the icons of old skool hip hop, was talking as part of the new MSNBC docu-series My Generation. It features interviews and archival footage from celebrity narrators and explores how life was/is for Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964), Generation X (1965 to 1981), Millennials (born 1981 to 1996) and Gen Z (born after 1997).
McDaniels fits into the Gen X bracket and during the interview talked about how Nirvana and their music resonated with him. “Nirvana was an honest expression of not being ashamed to put your angst on the front page,” he said of the group. “I relate to Kurt because I was there. Later in my life, I became suicidal. And I’m fortunate to still be here, so I have a responsibility to talk about it.”
“They have a song, ‘Come as You Are’,” he continued. “Come happy and high and jovial, come as depressed as you are. But unless you admit how you feel, whether good or bad, you never heal. We’re all in this together.”
It’s not the first time the rapper has been open about his struggles. In 2016 he published a memoir Ten Ways Not To Commit Suicide, which revealed how low he was feeling during the late 90s and how an unlikely piece of music saved his life.
“I was probably at my suicidal worst in 1997 during a two-week-long tour in Japan,” he wrote.“The only song I listened to then was a soft-pop ballad by Sarah McLachlan called Angel.”
“I cannot overemphasise how important that song was to me in the midst of my depression.
"I thought long and hard about killing myself every day in Japan. I tricked myself into thinking that my family might be better off without me... Whenever I’d listen to Angel, though, I always managed to make my way back from the brink.”
Hey, whatever works. Of course, in addition to battling alcohol addiction during this period, McDaniels would also suffer huge loss – his bandmate, DJ Jam Master Jay (real name Jason Mizell) was murdered in New York in 2002.
It’s one more link to Nirvana – another trio that changed the course of music history but who lost a central band member in tragic circumstances. Thankfully, McDaniels is still very much with us.
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