Wale is pushing for record labels to pay more attention to mental health. The D.C.-born rapper made an appearance on TMZ Live on Friday (Oct. 11) and shared his thoughts on labels assisting artists who are struggling with mental health. “Entertainment as a whole is stressful. Since it’s inception of [the] entertainment business you see how many people lose their life to this? Live they life for this and lose their life because of this. Your bad day is magnified by a hundred or your breakup is magnified times a hundred because … all your shortcomings are magnified by a hundred because everybody is watching you,” Wale explained.
He continued, “We live in an era where everybody is so engaged in every aspect of celebrity’s lives that they know everything. When you’re enjoying yourself or when you’re in a good place people get to experience that with you as well because they know you’re not just out here trying to be mister everything okay all the time. That gets draining too, self-consciously. It gets draining if it’s always gonna be all good all the time, at least for me. I just be like, ‘Bro, nobody’s that happy all the time.’”
Wale then explained the connection he would like to see made between recording contracts and mental health. “I just think the artists generate so much revenue and I think that might be the least they can do. Some type of union between getting treatment or analyzing what artists is going through because a lot of us are open books. And, we’re giving our lives, we’re telling our stories,” Wale added. “And, some of us get so much money at such a early age and you lose friends, you lose family, but you gotta keep going, you gotta keep touring, you gotta keep moving. There needs to be a relationship between the mental health agenda and entertainers and athletes. It doesn’t have to be mandatory, but I definitely think they should help pay for that.”
Wale recently dropped a new album, Wow … That’s Crazy to bring awareness on #WorldMentalHealthDay.
He has been candid about his struggles with depression in the past and has addressed the topic on his new album.
Check out Wale’s conversation with TMZ Live below.