Rapper Ycee Opens Up on Six-Year Battle With Mental Health Issues

Nigerian rapper and singer Ycee has revealed that he has been battling bipolar disorder since 2020, opening up about the challenges the condition posed to his mental health, creativity and music career.

The 33-year-old artiste made the disclosure during an appearance on the Afropolitan Podcast, where he recounted his experience with the illness and how it altered the course of his life over the past six years.

Ycee, whose real name is Oludemilade Martin Alejo, explained that he was diagnosed during the COVID-19 lockdown while living in London. According to him, the period marked the beginning of a difficult journey that involved hospitalisation, medication and therapy.

“In 2020, I got diagnosed with a mental health condition, and that was during lockdown. I was in London, deep down into lockdown. I was in and out of the hospital for maybe three months,” he said.

The rapper stated that before his diagnosis, he had little understanding of mental health issues. He said he was forced to learn about the condition while trying to recover in a foreign country during a period of global uncertainty.

Due to visa limitations, Ycee eventually returned to Nigeria, where he continued treatment and sought professional support.

“Coming back to Lagos and getting into mental health in Nigeria, it was a very long six years,” he said.

The artiste revealed that his recovery process involved medication, therapy sessions and repeated hospital admissions. He admitted that while there were moments of progress, there were also periods of emotional darkness and uncertainty.

According to him, one of the most painful consequences of the illness was its impact on his creativity and ability to make music, something he had always considered natural.

“The darkest part of everything I went through was how it affected my creativity. I would be in sessions, and my brain is just foggy,” he explained.

Ycee noted that the condition contributed to his prolonged absence from the music scene and affected the promotion of his 2021 project, “Love Drunk.”

Reflecting on his journey, he said he spent years trying to rediscover the person he used to be before realising he had to embrace a new reality and move forward.

The rapper said things began to improve toward the end of 2024, adding that he now feels more stable and optimistic about the future as he continues his recovery journey.