Jay-Z has paid an emotional tribute to his friend Chester Bennington. The rapper was playing a set in the BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge when preformed the emotional tribute to the singer who killed himself earlier this year. He played his song Numb/Encore on which he collaborated with the singer before his death.
Jay-Z also took the opportunity to discuss the stigma mental health. He said his hope was that some good would come out of Bennington’s death – opening up a dialouge for men to speak out about mental illness. ‘I really think that hopefully his death serves as a wake up call that mental health is a real thing. You never know that people are going through. You think that because they’re performers and he’s sold millions of records… that doesn’t equate to happiness. Money or fame, that doesn’t mean anything if you’re not happy inside.’
He also highlighted the pitfalls of fame. You get bigger audiences, you move further away from yourself and it’s tragic. I knew him well, a really nice person with like five kids and it’s just really tragic. The rapper was keen to add that the most important thing is that you have to take care of yourself both physically and emotionally.