Money Mental Health Hip-Hop

Hip-hop music is listened to by almost 2 billion people worldwide. From its origins in a place of poverty, hip-hop has grown into a high stakes multi-billion-dollar industry.

In this book, Drs Becky Inkster and Akeem Sule, co-founders of Hip-Hop Psych and life-long fans of hip-hop music and culture, use hip-hop lyrics from across the genre's 50-year history as a medium to consider the evolving interplay between financial factors and mental health against a backdrop of socio-political events.

Chapter 1 highlights examples of songs and artists that document poverty and financial hardship, and how these issues are related to mental health, including perspectives from psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience, and public health. We also show how the use of words such as 'broke' and 'suicide' in hip-hop lyrics map to real-world data such as poverty rates.

Chapter 2 discusses the ways in which money can bring out the best and the worst in people, and how too little, too much, or facing dramatic loses or gains in wealth can hugely impact mental health and wellbeing.

Chapter 3 considers the global growth of hip-hop music and culture, with multiple countries referenced. The United Kingdom is used as a case study of a country experiencing critical moments across economics, mental health, and its increasingly successful rap scene.

Chapter 4 looks at some of the emerging and evolving influences that might impact the future directions and convergence of hip-hop, money, and mental health, such as artificial intelligence and the rise and fall of virtual 'rappers'.

In total, over 130 hip-hop artists, and over 70 songs are referenced.

This book is academic in style and references a rigorous, evidence-based literature to help broaden and deepen our understanding of the complex interplay between financial and mental health. Some of the topics discussed are highly sensitive, including suicide, which some people might find distressing or triggering.

Hip Hop Psych (www.hiphoppsych.co.uk) was co-founded by Akeem Sule and Becky Inkster in 2012. Dr Sule is a consultant psychiatrist working at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, and he is affiliated with the University of Cambridge. Dr Inkster is a neuroscientist and digital mental health adviser (www.beckyinkster.com), and she is also affiliated with the University of Cambridge.

Hip Hop Psych works with the public, disadvantaged groups, hip-hop artists, the medical community, and others to raise awareness about mental health and hip-hop culture, and bridge them together in safe ways. They have performed in a wide range of settings, from prisons to nightclubs to academic conferences, lecture halls, and clinical roundtables.

Dettagli