Source: Men’s Health / Men’s Health
Hip-Hop has turned 50 but some of our most brilliant MC’s are aging backwards. Method Man, Ludacris and more share their fitness journeys with Men’s Health.
The magazine put a spotlight on the culture by featuring Busta Rhymes, Method Man, 50 Cent, Ludacris, Wiz Khalifa and Common on the cover of their newest issue. Each MC shared how they were inspired to get in shape and as expected most of their inspiration was not born from vanity. 50 Cent reveals that D’Angelo’s “How Does It Feel? (Untitled)” video made him want to get definition in his body especially after getting shot in 2000.
Method Man on the other hand made it clear that the exercise not only advanced his physical but helped with his mental state. “It went from this childhood joy to this euphoric feeling of celebrity to feeling inadequate and not good enough,” he said. “That’s where the depression and stuff came in. I didn’t even know I had been depressed since I was a youngster before I started doing music and moved to Staten Island. A lot of PTSD I had never dealt with before started resurfacing, but I didn’t know what it was then.”
The “Bring The Pain” rapper also admitted that getting active also improved his ability to rest. “My insomnia was pretty bad. I’m talking a year and a half, maybe, not having great sleeping habits. Trying to find stuff to do in the middle of the night is crazy, especially when you have all this stuff within your reach. PlayStations, books, and all that stuff, and none of that is satisfying anymore. You just find yourself up with all this energy. I didn’t know what to do with myself. So after the eighth game of Call of Duty, I said, ‘Let me see if the gym is open. I need to find something. I need to break this cycle, break this pattern.’”
Ludacris pointed to longevity as his drive to be always be at his best. “Someone would get in their 40s or 50s and that was a stigma—like, ‘Okay, you’re too old to be doing music now,’” the Atlanta emcee said. “But nobody’s taking into account that Hip-Hop is only 50 years old. We’re still in the midst of seeing how [Hip-Hop] is growing to a degree, and so there’s no more ‘You’re too old.’ Listen, I love to age, because I feel like aging is a privilege. The reason I’m so happy where I’m at is because I don’t have any resentments or any regrets. I have lived my life to the fullest. So when anyone remotely calls me OG, or anyone wants to throw around the word ‘old’ in the future, I’m not going to get upset.
You can read the entire Men’s Health story here.