At age nine, I had saved my mum not once but twice from trying to take her own life.

Ritalin and a cocktail of other prescription and herbal remedies were given to me from six till I was fifteen to tame this label. Something had to give!

When I was 15 I stopped taking Ritalin. Was it a good thing or not is hard to say because as the years went on I clouded the noise by mixing with the wrong circles of people and doing all sorts of crazy stuff. I ended up in a mental institution in my late twenties after heavy use of methamphetamine. It was then that I knew I’d saved mum’s life for a reason, because I needed her to save mine. Yeah, and she did. She got me the help I needed and life’s plan opened up. I got out of the Hillmorton Hospital with a purpose. After looking back on the years and seeing what I had missed out on due to the wrong decisions I made, I started to believe in myself again and used my lived experiences to create a platform in 2017 that is the King Cass Movement.

In my early 30s I became a Hiphop artist, the music gave me reason, I was hungry to put in the work and started doing shows and festivals, which made me realise I needed to tell my story and empower others, which I now do with a full on presentation show called The Awakening from dark to light.

So with everything I’ve been through as a kid till now, I honed it all in, ripped the plasters off and exposed the scars. I’ve learnt that being vulnerable and sharing through hiphop, the tools in my kete/basket have helped develop communities and all whilst having fun doing it.

Yeah, I have highs and lows, you know, but I have the support around me to move through those moments and I think that’s a really important tool. One thing I’ve learnt first hand is that social media is a platform for bullying and unfortunately our young people out there especially those with ADHD, Autism, Aspergers etc get bullied and it made me realise, I want to stand up and be their voice.”

– Hunter