\u201cI was at a mental health summit, and this muh\u2019fucker gon\u2019 say
\u2018I didn\u2019t know mental illnesses existed in Black America\u2019
WHAT?!?!!\u201d<\/p>\n
Welcome to the strange<\/a> world of King Iso. Full disclosure \u2014 this album review was a reader suggestion. For obvious reasons we don\u2019t have the time or resources to take every one that hits my inbox, let alone the hundreds of albums submitted by independent artists or record labels. Three things pushed me toward giving \u201cGhetto Psycho<\/a>\u201d the time though. The first is that I want to acknowledge the people who support this website<\/a> either directly through pledges or indirectly by being a reader. Either way you\u2019re proving that there\u2019s still value in reading about rap music and engaging with the art on an intimate level. The second is that King Iso<\/a> has been releasing albums for at least a decade but we haven\u2019t covered one until now. There\u2019s that \u201ctime and resources\u201d issue rearing its ugly head. The third is more personal.<\/p>\n Iso\u2019s name is a self-styled acronym meaning \u201cI Shall Overcome.\u201d He\u2019s not shy about sharing his mental health struggles in his music generally or on \u201cGhetto Psycho<\/a>\u201d specifically. The only way we as human beings can overcome these issues is to remove the stigma about addressing it. Men are far less likely to admit to it because of societal pressure to \u201cbe strong\u201d and adhere to male stereotypes. You only need to look at the statistics<\/a> to know this is even more dangerous in Black America. This is a crisis. Pretending it doesn\u2019t exist is tantamount to condemning people to die by their own hand.<\/p>\n \u201cBetween 2011 and 2020 the suicide death rate among males was more than three times the rate among females in Black or African American populations.\u201d \u2013 SPRC<\/a><\/p>\n The statistics might also suggest my odds are better due to my ethnic background, but just like King Iso I want to de-stigmatize this issue. I\u2019ve been in crisis. I\u2019ve been at the brink and stepped back. I\u2019ve had family members and friends who were there and didn\u2019t step back. I now take medication daily and I refuse to be ashamed of that no matter what the brain worm addled<\/a> say. King Iso\u2019s honesty in a world filled with macho posturing in and outside of rap music is refreshing. On \u201cNormal\u201d he talks about the dangers of self-medicating. When I was having sleepless nights and zombie days, I wasn\u2019t afraid to self-medicate either, but all it does is mask the issues and wreck your mental health even more.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s normal to be not normal, that\u2019s the new one None of this is easy to write about. Admitting you have problems requires a willingness to crush your own ego. My approach to it is that you can only build yourself back up stronger when you break down the walls you put up. You have to acknowledge they were poorly constructed and only kept others out. Listening to the title track of \u201cGhetto Psycho<\/a>\u201d shows me an artist who embraces this process through making music. I admire that level of vulnerability. It\u2019s also much more personal for King Iso given this country\u2019s history of slavery, racism and disenfranchisement. Why are those statistics I mentioned above so alarming? Because the system we live in has been engineered that way. As he puts it in the title track there\u2019s \u201ctrauma in our bloodline.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019ve spent a lot of this review talking about mental health in general and the relationship both King Iso and I have with it. As LA Knight would say \u201clemme talk to ya\u201d about the album a bit more. This is a meaty release. It\u2019s 75 minutes spread out over 24 tracks. Due to him being signed to one of the stronger independent labels going, it\u2019s not hard to get a plethora of guest artists to appear on his shit. Starlito<\/a> is on \u201cGiving Down.\u201d E-40<\/a> is on \u201cCrash Out.\u201d Don Trip<\/a> is on \u201cConcrete Boxspring.\u201d You get the idea. The guest appearances don\u2019t overwhelm Iso but they do show he\u2019s connected and respected.<\/p>\n
Therapy is not normally spoke of
Kids outside where they normally sell drugs
I might be a +Psycho+ that they know of
And when my symptoms do show up
I guess it\u2019s normal for me\u201d<\/p>\n