Hip-hop artists in recovery
An ‘Outsider’ no more: House of Pain’s Danny Boy O’Connor finds his calling
In 2018, Danny Boy O’Connor appeared in the teaser trailer for PBS’ “Great American Read.” Danny Boy O’Connor was 13 years old the first time he saw “The Outsiders,” and the film has stayed with him ever since. Growing up, O’Connor told The Ties That Bind Us recently, life was a series of one hard…
Read MorePhilo Reitzel: Asheville hip-hop raconteur living his best life thanks to recovery
Like a lot of artists who come up hard — either through circumstances beyond their control or ones of their own design — Philo Reitzel embraced the game. Coming up in Asheville, North Carolina’s hip-hop scene, he threw himself readily into the drug and alcohol subculture that’s often glamorized in the genre. By his late…
Read MoreThanks to recovery, REM ONE grinds on that hip-hop hustle
Want proof that recovery provides for miracles? Look no further than Frank Morgan, the hip-hop artist known as REM ONE. By all accounts, Morgan should be somewhere in a Baltimore graveyard, dead from an overdose or the violence that often accompanies addiction. Or, worse, he could still be shuffling in and out of jails and…
Read MoreRecovering hip-hop artist B-RAiN: ‘If I put my mind to it, I can do anything’
Brian “B-RAiN” McCall was staring into an abyss of 165 years in prison when he got word of his father’s death. Both were struggling to get clean, but despite being locked up for 11 robberies with bail set at more than a half million dollars, McCall was still getting high. In fact, he told The…
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