As we have seen with the passing of Capital Steez and Freddy E this past year alone, we have a mental health and suicide issue in Hip Hop. HipHopDX, AllHipHop, Rap Rehab and others have written on it in 2013. And this is representative of a larger trend in America, with a suicide occurring every 15 minutes. Then consider all the young (and older) people still alive and suffering.

Aaron Swartz, the founder of Reddit, was systematically targeted, arrested, prosecuted and harassed by the federal government, essentially for being down with the likes of Wikileaks and seeking freedom of information. He was 26 when he was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment, having hanged himself. The young man who invented RSS at 14…

I can relate, as I do quite personally in my new song “#AaronSwartz”, produced by Steel Tipped Dove and featuring the guitar and singing talents of seven-time Grammy nominee LAW.

This rap Suicide ‘PSA’ is sponsored by Grassroots Suicide Prevention and will appear on AWKWORD’s DJBooth-sponsored 100% for-charity global Hip Hop project ‘World View’, as well as Steel Tipped Dove’s ‘& a whole bunch of crazy motherfuckers’ mixtape, dropping Monday, July 1.

iTunes: #AaronSwartz (feat. L*a*W) – Single – Awkword