Alrad “Boola” Lewis has enjoyed success in hip-hop for over ten years. Having worked with such luminaries as Kanye West and Beanie Sigel, the New Jersey native has been grinding and perfecting his craft, both as a producer and as an artist. Now, Boola is using his talent to give voice to those suffering from mental health issues. The I Will Listen project is a collaborative album featuring several artists performing tracks dedicated to addressing mental health. Boola spoke to rolling out about why he had to take part.
“I always feel like doing something positive is good,” Boola explains. He also reveals that one of his collaborators had been wrestling with his own mental health problems. “He was a co-writer on the project and he personally suffered from that for years and probably still is an ongoing battle. I felt it and felt the energy and just wanted to give back if I can. People rarely do that — especially in rap music. It made sense to me.”
Mental illness is not something that hip-hop addresses regularly, despite certain stars like DMX and Gucci Mane having had well-documented mental and emotional health issues. Boola says the stigma keeps people silent.
“I think a lot of people have fear and I think they’re ashamed of this type of thing,” he believes. “Or they may overlook it and think someone won’t be interested in it because it’s not common. So to talk about it is hard to do.”
Boola also admitted that he wasn’t overly exposed to mental health awareness prior to now.
“I didn’t even think about this issue at all,” he says. “But when I got involved with the project, I started to open up more and think about how I grew up. Growing up in the ‘hood, there are rough conditions: low jobs, single parent homes, murders — these would call people to be depressed because of the environment.
“A few of my friends committed suicide and none of us ever talked about it. Just recently, I was dating someone and it seemed like she had all of these inner demons and would talk about suicide. But we never talked about it. I just recently brought it up and she revealed that she was depressed. This was all recent — because I was involved with the project.”
Boola is proud to be involved with I Will Listen, as the lone rapper featured, he’s excited about helping to destigmatize this issue. He and the rest of the I Will Listen artists will be taking the stage tonight at Mercury Lounge in New York City to spread the word.
“I’m glad I’m at the forefront of it, so to speak,” he says. “It’s hard and I can imagine what it’s like for superstars with these inner battles. People talking about it and artists talking about it will open up the conversation and help people be more open and seek help if they need it.”
