Please introduce yourself. What do you do? Why? What do you want people to know about you?
Hey, what’s up I’m Marcell ‘TBE Mus’ab’ Washington. I am a rapper and mental health advocate amongst other things. I choose to be in those fields for a number of reasons.
I’ve experienced many mental health issues in my life, fueled by trauma and substance use. I’ve been doing music for years and have always been told that I’m talented in that area so wanted to incorporate my talent and knowledge of mental health to spread the message of mental health awareness through my lyrics which are predominantly based on my life experiences.
I want people to know that they can learn skills to be resilient and to never give up on life no matter what situation they land in. I believe if you’re sincere and seek the help of The Most High you’ll always see a glimpse of light, my advice is to keep the hope and always put as much effort as you possibly can into your vision of success.
What qualities make you different and unique from everyone else in the industry?
What’s make me different and unique from everyone one else in the industry are my experiences.
Besides growing up in a poor household and witnessing traumatic events such as seeing my mom get her nose broken with a golf club when I was around 7 years old, to holding my first gun around the same age, finding out that my mom was chronically ill around 10 and selling crack for the first time around 11 my house being the “spot”, moving to a different house in different neighborhoods almost every year.
Growing up trying to avoid the streets and selling drugs because my mom was a smoker, being drawn to it out of certain financial necessities, I remember being turned down for a job at Burger King in a neighborhood I lived in because of the neighborhood I lived in.
I also experienced hardships like the death of my mother’s oldest daughter who was like a second mother to me and my siblings in a lot of ways, she lost her life to gun violence when I was 18 which was extremely traumatic for me.
I suppressed a lot of issues I was dealing with and didn’t process them properly, turning to drugs and alcohol, a fast-paced life that put even more stress on me, I developed underlying mental health issues. One day after smoking something that was likely laced or just didn’t agree with my system, I began to slip into what’s is known as psychosis which translates into a break from reality.
Mistakenly causing the death of my son, I underwent years of psychological recovery to the point of working for state psych centers, and even being provisionally certified as an NYS peer specialist.
Returning from an indefinite stay in the state’s psychiatric system to helping in my community, establishing businesses, and making a way for others to attain a certain level of success.
Describe THAT moment when you realized you’re doing what you were born to do.
The moment I realize I was doing what I was born to do was when I got out of the state facilities and went through the humiliation of other people’s opinions and treatment towards me.
Seeing who I grew up with and people that knew me personally turn their backs on me without even trying to figure out what actually happened. The conversations I had with creditable people that acknowledge the strength it takes to stand up to and carry that on my back along with the fact that I stood tall through it all, came home stayed focused, and accomplished more than people who were free for the almost 7 years that I was confined made me realize that I actually matter to a lot of people and inspires me to keep going.
My brother told me, “You’re the realest sh*t I have ever seen,” and as much as I tried to minimize it I have to be thankful and acknowledge where he’s coming from with that statement.
What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve had to go through and how did you grow through it?
I think dealing with the stress of the death of my son, and sister and many other loved ones were very big challenges I’ve had to go through. Truthfully, I still experience those challenges. I also deal with spiritual challenges such as balancing my religious duties in my life, when I don’t fulfill them then I become anxious and worried.
One thing about me is I know that it’s bigger than me, I have a family to support and be an example to. I understand that my children are looking up to me and even other family members and friends that learn from the things I do so keeping a balance is challenging.
Sometimes I have to show them that there are times when we need to disconnect from what others think about you and work on being the best you one example of that is that I deleted all social media at times to show them it’s not that important and that I can create a new one. I let them know that they have to master the basics before moving up or taking on more than they can handle.
Keeping myself in check is how I get through those challenges, having a balance system where I’ll ask the opinions of people I trust such as my therapist, my family, and friends, and consider what I feel about them by challenging them.
However, if my challenges are unsubstantiated then I work on those areas I feel need to work on and I think by me showing that example helps not only me with the challenges but everyone included. But in short, my biggest challenge is staying balanced.
Who are the TOP 3 people you’d want to meet that could elevate your career or business? Why these specific individuals?
The top three people I would want to meet right now would be, Master P, Eminem, and French Montana.
If we’re talking career elevation I think picking the brains of these three individuals would be great because, to me, they embody different success patterns that seemingly taught them lessons I want to learn. Master P built his brand and has ownership on most if not all his products, Eminem has such a level of success as an artist that We’ve seen the complications it’s caused in his life, and I really connected with French Montana on another level seeing his grind, sharing the same religion and seeing his level of comfort.
I would like to learn how to achieve a good level of success while keeping ownership on most of my products and knowing what to sign as partnerships and/or sell from Master P, I would like to learn what do’s and don’ts as an artist to minimize complications from the general public and still attain and maintain success.
From Eminem, and I would like to learn what social cues to pay attention to and how to keep a comfortable relevance from French Montana. I’m the type of guy that doesn’t want to lose too much normality and knows how to adjust when it does start changing.
Drop your social media links.
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tbe_musab/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tbemusab
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100054334540671