Big Sean says he fell into a "very deep" depression after the death of Nipsey Hussle in 2019. He reflected on the Los Angeles rapper's passing during a recent interview with Linsey Davis for ABC News, alongside Usher. The topic began with Sean discussing his willingness to open up about his struggles with mental health in the wake of Hussle's death.
"I was just sharing what was going on in my life. I didn’t realize that I was being so vulnerable, I wasn’t trying to be a spokesperson for mental health per se," Sean said of that period. He continued: “I was just expressing how I was, and was going into therapy and experiencing a time of heavy ups and downs, a time of depression."
"I had to rediscover myself," he further admitted, "I didn’t even know what I liked anymore. I didn’t even know what I was into anymore, I had been so about my work that I lost touch with the person that I was. So, I think that led to a very deep battle of depression, deeper than I experienced when I was a teenager."
Nipsey Hussle's Death
Nipsey Hussle was shot and killed outside his store in South Central Los Angeles on March 31, 2019. Eric Holder was found guilty of first-degree murder in the case three years later and was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison.
Further reflecting on his time away from music, Big Sean continued: "[That moment] taught me how important the mind, body and spirit are, how interconnected that they are. Really learned how to "take care of myself, my diet, being in the gym, taking time to meditate, taking time to have fun. You got to be serious about having fun, because as fast as time goes, we’re here for a limited amount of time. We got all these goals, all these dreams, but what if this is our only time to actually experience this friction and experience these feelings while we’re in our bodies... There’s so many lessons in that time that I learned in my life; so I’m just happy to be here."
