D.M.C. wants to see rappers take a more vocal role in talking about the realities of substance abuse and mental health. In an interview with Kyle Eustice of HipHopDX, the legend from Hollis, Queens talked about rappers and addiction.
"All of these successful dudes and girls, nobody’s doing songs about Peep, Mac Miller and Juice WRLD," DMC explained, referencing rappers who have ODed in recent years. "Look at that void right there. Imagine if Q-Tip, Big Daddy Kane and Rakim OD’d. Every artist from Ice Cube to De La Soul would’ve made records addressing the issue. So this generation is being silent. So I’m like, “Yo. This is my culture. These are my people.” Their age don’t mean nothing. What I’m doing now, as the OG, I’ve been doing this since 1983. Nobody wants to step up and take the responsibility for making sure another Juice WRLD and Mac Miller doesn’t happen again. Then I guess that I was given a microphone for a reason."
"Hip-Hop dictates what’s cool," said DMC. "And by them being silent and instead of saying, 'Yo, we need to stop,' they’re saying it’s OK to do that. I was speaking at a teacher’s conference in Binghamton, New York in January. I was speaking at a conference for all the art teachers, and the art teachers said, 'All of the young people in these inner cities and these Black neighborhoods, all of these high school kids, don’t see themselves living past 20.' That’s a huge, huge, huge problem that psychology, religion and pastors can’t solve but culture can."
