“Handle With Care”: Rapper Jez Dior Gets Real About Mental Health

Hip-hop artist Jez Dior isn’t afraid to open up.

His latest album, Handle With Care, is largely autobiographical, documenting his struggles with addiction, relationships, and an especially challenging family history. While he’s always “used music as a form of therapy,” Jez took it one step further, releasing real video recordings of sessions with his childhood therapist, Mickey. His message to fans: “No matter how bad things get, how low you find yourself… just know that things do get better.”

As an artist, Jez uses his voice and personal connection to the cause to start conversations about mental health, and he’s recently teamed up with DoSomething on our Mental Note: Take Time for Yourself campaign, powered by Harry’s, to encourage people to check in on their mental health.

Here’s what he has to say about using music as an outlet, being vulnerable with his fans, and knowing when to ask for help.

(This interview has been edited for clarity and length.)

DoSomething: How did you become a musician?

Jez: I think my cousin gave me the album The Eminem Show when I was like 11 or 12, and from there, I was just so inspired by Eminem that I wanted to make my own raps. It was around the same time that my dad had left my family, so I just always used rapping as a way to get my feelings out and write about that.

It was kind of a mix of things, having that influence from Eminem and just like loving what he said and being able to relate to it and then wanting to do it on my own and finding similar things to write about with my personal family life.

Can you tell us more about how you “use music as therapy”?

Music for me really is a form of therapy. I’ve been to therapy throughout the entirety of my life, but right now I just really use music and writing to get all my feelings out, and I always have. It's just been the biggest outlet for me since I can remember.

I was never one to really talk about my feelings to my parents -- my mom especially because she had a lot on her plate already. I kind of just found music at a young age and it felt good to write about things that I was going through. I was never scared to just let it out there, and as I progressed in my ability to make music that never went away.

You’ve spoken very candidly about your challenges with family, mental health, and addiction. What motivates you to be open and vulnerable about the things that you struggle with?

I think that in the beginning it was really all for me. The stuff that I was writing about was for me, and I put it out because that's the content that I had. As I grew with my fans and garnered any attention for my music, it became a way that I can bond with my fans and share my experiences.

It's something that we bond over, and I think that it’s really important to spread awareness on these issues that I've gone through and other people have also gone through. I think that it's important for them to hear somebody that they can relate to to know that they're not alone. Why else am I making music and talking about these things if I can't help other people with it?

How do your experiences navigating mental health and addiction influence your perspective as an artist?

I've learned after my past experiences, especially when it comes to drugs and alcohol or just controlling my emotions, that as an artist, I'm sensitive. I’ve just got to be careful, and that's something that I think about frequently. It helps to know yourself and know the place that you're currently in mentally and really just look at yourself in an honest way. If you're able to do that, then you should be fine but it's not as easy as it sounds sometimes.

What made you decide to share your therapy sessions alongside your latest album, Handle With Care? What was that experience like?

It just felt like something that could really help people out and maybe broaden people's thoughts and ideas on therapy. Even in my personal life, I know tons of people who look at therapy with some sort of negative connotation, and think it's uncool or wonder how talking to some stranger could help me. I thought that it would be cool to just open up that conversation and tell people, “Hey, I do this, and I’ve done this for a long time, and it really helps me. I’m going to give you the whole session, the whole honest truth, and show you exactly what we do here.”

I wouldn't say I was scared to be vulnerable and to open up like that. I think that that's just a part of me now and something that I'm actually happy to do, but I think I was a little bit nervy to release it. I got tons of messages from people regarding it, so to be able to help some people, in my eyes, that was a success.

What encouraged you to pursue therapy and rehab? What did you learn or gain from seeking help?

I just learned a lot about myself, and there's things that I learned when I went to rehab and things that I considered about myself that I've never really even thought about before. I’ve been on my own and making my own decisions for so long now, and I think that I kind of just got a little confused and wasn't acting like myself and just got a little bit too wrapped up in the Hollywood lifestyle. I just took a step back and took a look at myself and realized it was time to chill out and maybe I should do that.

That was something I was terrified to do, if I'm being honest. I was terrified to go to rehab, but in the end, I'm really glad that I did because it helped me out a lot.

What would your advice be to someone struggling and worried about taking that step to ask for help?

My advice would be, just don't be scared to ask for help because we can't do everything ourselves. A lot of the time, I was scared to ask for help because I didn't want somebody to look down upon me. Try to look at yourself and understand that what you're going through is not necessarily a bad thing. You just might need somebody else to help you get back up on your feet and get back to where you want to be.

Research shows that men are less likely than women to have conversations about their mental health. What would you like other men to know about caring for their mental health?

It's the most important thing in the world, really. It’s your brain -- it's the thing that wires your entire body. I'm probably in the best mental place that I've been in a long time, and it's because I finally just stopped the BS and really started to focus on my mental health and focus on taking care of myself.

If you take care of yourself you will feel the changes, and you will feel so much better. It can be so scary at first, having to change your ways or consider trying new things, but it's really, really important.