Young Noble's former manager Steve Lobel is confirming the Outlawz rapper was indeed "the strong friend" following his suicide ... and says the time for artists to have solid mental health coverage is NOW!!!
00:05I got chills right now because I didn't expect you to catch me here.
00:08But yes, I managed the Outlaws.
00:10I want to say rest in peace to Tupac, rest in peace to Fatah Hussein,
00:14Gaddafi, and now Young Noble.
00:16You know, and obviously Big Sight.
00:18I worked with them for a long time.
00:20I did a crazy post the other day.
00:22It took me a couple of days to get through it and posted a lot of behind the scenes pictures and things.
00:29I've been around the world with the Outlaws.
00:31And we used to argue, man.
00:33And then we would laugh.
00:34What was he like, bro?
00:35What was he like?
00:36No, it was great, man.
00:37But he did smoke a lot of cigarettes, man.
00:38But he was just laid back and cool, man.
00:41He was so passionate about the music business.
00:44All he wanted to do was go to the studio, do shows.
00:47He used to call me with so many different ideas.
00:49His mind was so creative, man.
00:51But just rest in peace to Tupac.
00:53You know, like I said, Fatah, Gaddafi, man.
00:56Shout out to Edie, man.
00:57He just celebrated his birthday around the time.
00:59And he's so strong, man.
01:01He's like the last of the dying, the last of the living legends.
01:05Mental health is real, man.
01:06He was going through a lot of things.
01:08We talked about a few things.
01:10For him to go out like that, a real soldier, man, from Jersey, killing himself is just sad.
01:17It's sad, man.
01:18And just death is sad, right?
01:20And I've lost a lot of people I've worked in hip-hop with, and I can name a bunch, but I don't want to.
01:24But mental health is real.
01:25You know, I've been fighting record companies to give artists health insurance to take care of mental health and health insurance.
01:32You know, we opened a treatment center years ago helping people.
01:35You know, we were helping DMX, rest in peace.
01:38We helped Lil Xan, rest in peace.
01:40I mean, Lil Xan, but he didn't pass.
01:41We helped him.
01:42You never know what people are going through.
01:44Plus, they say financial problems.
01:46A lot of our legends die broke or can't even afford a funeral.
01:51That's sad.
01:52They should be retirement plans for these legends, man.
01:55So, you know, again, I've traveled a lot of countries with the Outlaws, worked with the Outlaws.
01:59Noble was my brother and family, man.
02:01You know, there's a lot of culture vultures in this game that are getting health insurance, working on these labels.
02:06But the artists, they're dying or getting killed or going to prison and they don't have nothing to help them out.
02:12And people are making money off them, you know?
02:14That's really insane that, like, the people on the desk, you know, at the label.
02:19Yeah.
02:20They have that health insurance, but the artists don't.
02:21Who ain't really outside, man.
02:22That's right.
02:23You almost passed away last year from health issues, you know, from a prostate issue and gout.
02:27And I had to learn the hallway, so I preach now hip-hop and health because this touring life, this music business, this entertainment life, you eat like shit.
02:35You don't have time to eat, workout, sleep good.
02:40And we all work so hard to try to make money and be successful and get these nice things, but we can't take it with us.
02:46So we forget to live life and be happy, but more importantly, healthy.
02:50I'm going to be 60 years old in November.
02:52My dad's 91, he's still going because it's what you got to do.
02:56You got to exercise every day, eat right, because we only get one life.
02:59Tomorrow's not promised, and we can't bring back yesterday.
