Professor Green has opened up about his personal struggles with mental health.
The candid chat with KISS follows his pledge to support a campaign called Wheres Your Head At, fighting to make it a legal requirement for every workplace or college in the UK to have a mental health first aider.
One of the hardest battles the 34-year-old rapper had to face was his internal dialogue.
He said: Things tend to manifest and when you keep things in they get bigger and bigger.
But I was lucky enough to find a form of expression in writing music so I was able to get what was inside out and that made things a hell of a lot easier to process. When you have stuff swimming around in your head it can all become a bit much.
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Green argues that theres also a misconception surrounding the bravado in rap. Theres a lot of bravado in rap but when you listen to the music of many artists theres a lot of emotion. You cant write music without being an emotional person.
I just think theres a misconception with how macho it is.I think its quite difficult for men to be open – youre taught as boys “come on be a man!” But what is it to be a man? Thats really the question.
Being a man now is very different to what it was thousands of years ago. Maybe as men we havent quite caught up yet though.
One of the biggest challenges to peoples mental health today, he says, is social media.
More: Music
Social media is both good and bad. It depends what you take from it and put into it, it also depends what you take out of it. Its not a very good outlet. If youre in a bad mood dont go anywhere near your phone. There is good out there – it just depends on what and who you follow.
Green isnt alone in this thinking. A wealth of research suggests that excessive social media use, for which most people are guilty, has a detrimental impact on ones mental health. A 2017 study by the Royal Society of Public Health found that of the 1,500 young people they asked about how they felt when using social media, most reported Snapchat and Instagram were the most likely to inspire feelings of inadequacy and anxiety.
Facebook meanwhile, made cyber-bullying worse.
Professor Green is the latest celebrity to show support for KISSs campaign. Jeremy Corbyn, Jamie Laing, Charlotte Crosby, Megan McKenna and Kem Cetinay have also pledged support, and all spoke openly about their personal struggles with mental health.
MORE: Professor Green calls ex Fae Williams new boyfriend a downgrade in scathing post
MORE: Professor Green splits with model girlfriend Fae Williams
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