Crayon, a signee of Mavin Record label, recently opened up about his struggles with mental health during the early stages of his music career.
In a lengthy interview with popular YouTuber Korty, he discussed the challenges of the Nigerian music industry and how it can be tough for those who are not strong-willed.
Crayon admitted to battling addiction to drugs, including Codeine and Marijuana, at one point in his career.
Crayon revealed that the pressure of releasing six consecutive songs without success took a toll on his mental health.
Crayon also shared a moment of vulnerability when he walked barefoot to the Mavin Record Label’s mansion and had a breakdown, expressing thoughts of quitting music.
Fortunately, the incident was not captured on camera, sparing him further embarrassment.
In Crayon’s words:
“If you’re an artiste, and you want to come into the industry, omo, if you know say you no get strong mental health, no enter o!”
“You know, I came out in 2019. Dropped my first EP, and then like in 2020, I dropped like six songs that didn’t blow at all. It started messing with me mentally. Doubting myself in so many ways. Me going to Jazzy crying like “what’s going on? Am I cursed?”
“I was always by myself. I used to do Tramadol, I used to do Codeine. I used to Emzolyn. I used to do Refinol. And I used to do Skuchies. Skuchies is like the combination of weed, tramadol, codeine, refinol, everything in one. I stopped when it almost killed my guy and my guy took tramadol without eating, like 700mg. Almost died. So I called my friends like omo, we need to stop this thing.”
“One day, we went to a beach house party and we were just vibing and chilling, and then I started reacting somehow. And then my manager saw me and was like “guy, wetin dey worry you? You take anything?” I said “no, only weed” because I was acting out crazy. So immediately, I came back home and started Facetiming Rema like “how far bro.”
All of a sudden, I started walking on the streets. I just dey waka dey go. I walked down to Mavin Studios barefooted. I got to the gate, and I sat down on the floor and was like “omo, I don tire mehn.”
I took off my shirt, I took my iPhone, I smashed it on the ground. And then, calls started flying. I think Rema called BabyFresh and everybody started shouting “Crayon, what are you doing there?” I said I’m just really tired. Rema drove down, scattered everywhere, shouting “where my brother dey?” I was literally lying down in Rema’s lap.”
“It was bad. Car dey move, I would want to jump out of the car. It was that crazy. I couldn’t talk. I literally lost my mind. Fighting wars that nobody can see, only you. So they took me to one of the psychiatric hospitals here in Lekki. It was deep.”
Watch full interview below:
