On International Men’s Day, The Ghetto Boys’ Hit Tune Weighs Heavily On My Mind
Read on…
Hip-hop has been through several stages in its fifty year existence.
It has gone from being a politically conscious art form to being violently misogynistic and so much more.
Long before the likes of Drake came along and spoke about their feelings, we had solo artists and groups in the 90s, who had no compunction in putting it all out there.
And one of such groups was The Ghetto Boys.
What was interesting about this collective was that they didn’t come from the east or the west coast, but from the south.
Unlike the other group from the south — 2 live Crew — whose music unashamedly raunchy and sexually explicit, The Ghetto Boys or Geto Boys, as they later became, were quite political.
And their signature tune—My Mind’s Playing Tricks on Me — was extraordinarily powerful.
So what was song about?
It was about grown men speaking candidly about their mental health struggles: Post traumatic, stress disorder, anxiety, suicidal ideation, paranoia and anxiety.