Tim Crawley, the man behind 2015’s amazing documentary on Paul Alexander and his battles with mental health, has just released a new film focusing on Christ Bearer, the rapper who made the news by cutting off his penis and jumping from a two story balcony.
This is obviously quite heavy viewing, but well worth putting aside twenty minutes for – Tim has an empathetic approach to his work which really gives an insight into the mental health struggles gone through. A further blurb on the documentary can be found below the link.
Christ Bearer, aka Andre Johnson, was headline news in just about every publication during April 2014.
He went from being an underground Wu-Tang Clan affiliated rapper to a humorous, worldwide tabloid sensation overnight: the wacky story of the rapper who cut his own penis off and jumped from a two story balcony.
Harassed by the media while recovering in hospital, his suffering was overlooked until months later, when it emerged that Andre had been under the influence of PCP among other drugs, and had been suffering from severe depression.
The act was in fact a reaction to the downward spiral of dark and destructive thoughts he was experiencing as a result of a far from perfect family life.
This documentary hears from a number of Andre’s friends, colleagues and family members, offering a first hand look at how difficult mental health issues can be to address in such a macho industry as Hip Hop.
