Temitope Creppy, a senior biology major from Chicago, Illinois by way of Lagos, Nigeria, grew up with artists like Lil Durk and G Herbo blasting in his headphones and all throughout his city. Through this shared experience among people of Chicago, drill music became a treasured symbol of pride and community.
Now, Creppy is conducting a research project on the connection between Black youth and mental health through hip-hop, more specifically analyzing how Chicago drill rap helps Black youth to cope with their emotions.
Creppy was drawn to rap therapy after finding that there are many misunderstandings in conversations surrounding hip-hop and its connection to mental health.
The National Library of Medicine published research that “discovered that youth frequently utilize music as a coping mechanism for their emotions, such as alleviating stress and enhancing mood.”
While multiple researchers have found the benefits of music therapy in youth, Creppy discovered that many overlooked the benefits of rap music specifically.
“Using hip-hop as an avenue to access mental health hasn’t really been talked about a lot, even though it’s one of the biggest facilitators for our community when it comes to talking about emotions, talking about trauma, talking about our PTSD,” he said.
Further, recent data from Pew Trusts highlighted a rise in mental health challenges among Black youth. The suicide rate among Black adolescents aged 10 to 19 increased by 54 percent from 2018 to 2022.
Creppy said he was inspired to conduct his research after meeting AZA Allsop, assistant professor at Yale and director of the Howard Center for Collective Healing. The center focuses on helping others through evidence-based community programs centered around different art forms such as music, painting, drum circles, music mindfulness sessions, healing circles, dance therapy, choirs and rap therapy.
The project aims to contribute to the growing movement of utilizing unconventional methods to address mental health in Black youth. In the wake of growing mental health issues among Black youth, the team is working to shed light on the healing potential of hip-hop, with this focus on Chicago drill rap.
To get the research started, Creppy reached out to Allsop and they began by collaborating and brainstorming ways to develop their ideas regarding research on drill music.
“In a lot of music research, hip-hop isn’t often included, and there really wasn’t much that is known about art like drill music, and so I felt like it was an opportunity to really put some of the tools that we have in science towards an area that we care about and that was really interesting,” Allsop said.
Creppy then traveled back to his hometown, Chicago, to gather qualitative research through one-on-one interviews and focus groups. He reported his findings back to Allsop, who was excited about the project as it aligned with his previous research experience.
“Getting a chance to collaborate with someone like Temi, who has deep roots in this community in Chicago, and who allowed us in the center to be able to get a better understanding of how music is used and the effects it had, that was something that was exciting to me,” Allsop said.
In Chicago, Creppy sat down with multiple prominent drill rappers within the city, such as OG Steo, Femdot, OG Juwan, Akeem, Marko Stats and Bazo West Rogers, along with Black youth and part of Circles and Ciphers, a “restorative justice organization that uses hip-hop and arts for incarcerated juveniles,” to talk about their experiences with mental health and hip-hop.
Creppy said his research and the broader conversation surrounding it led to a lot of healing for his community, as topics relating to mental health and therapy are often stigmatized. He found that using music and hip-hop to express feelings is an effective coping mechanism for many. Rappers often channel their grief, pain and personal tragedies into their music.
“They use the music as an escape, as a sense of belonging, a sense of identity, a sense of purpose and it’s given a lot of people a kind of direction in life. They even say themselves, the music is really a healing method for them,” Creppy said.
Allsop shared this sentiment about the healing effect of music.
“Many people use music as a way of regulating their emotions. If they feel happy or sad they might play a song that will help them feel better or might even make them get a little bit deeper into whatever it is that they’re feeling,” Allsop said.
The impact of this research goes beyond music itself. During his interviews with incarcerated youth, Creppy witnessed firsthand how hip-hop can foster healing within communities. Circle and Ciphers’ community events created a safe space for young people to engage in meaningful conversations and build connections.
“One thing I saw was a lot of gang conflicts, a lot of that tension has been resolved through that organization, through community events,” Creppy said.
Creepy and Allsop’s ultimate goal is to help shift the narrative and draw attention to larger conversations surrounding art, music and culture.
“Hip-hop is a way of being able to tell a story, express oneself, express the conditions that someone is in and also to express revolutionary ideas. So I think there are these really positive components,” Allsop said.
Allsop also recognized that the music industry has in fact used hip-hop in negative ways, spreading harmful and violent messages. Thus, he emphasized the importance of overcoming those biases when looking at hip-hop and rap music in the context of therapy.
“We have so many healing methods that we need to talk about, because if left up to the wrong media and press, it could be stigmatized and demonized and end up with a negative connotation around it, as we’ve already seen,” Creppy added.
Through gathering data and amplifying these conversations, Creppy and Allsop aim to illustrate how music alleviates barriers between Black youth and mental health. Further, they are working to engage communities with more questions regarding emotional intelligence and expression. Creppy plans to submit his research for publication, as the end goal of the project is to spread awareness and reduce stigma surrounding mental health and the black community through hip-hop.
In reflecting on the personal significance of his work, Creppy explained how “It’s less about what we already know in academia, and more about what the community can teach us. This research has taught me about my own grief, my own trauma and opening myself up to mental health.”
As the team continues its work in analyzing the data, they remain steadfast in the belief that Chicago drill rap music serves as a valid and effective tool for mental health.
“It just shows what the nuance and complexities are of the types of music that we make and that we listen to, and I think it’ll widen just the scope and availability of research for these areas of music that haven’t typically been used or studied in medicine,” Allsop said.
Allsop emphasized the idea that the project will broaden the research field’s view of not just music, but drill music specifically.
“Our music has the power to heal, to give a voice, to give a sense of agency, to process trauma, to tell stories,” Creppy said.
Copy edited by Camiryn Stepteau
