Jester Jacobs: The grime track helping you look after your head

Rap artist and comedian Jester Jacobs (AKA Joe) has tried his fair share of self-care stuff - he even wrote a track about it. We chatted to him about why he’s helping you look after your head with his song Grimefulness and how humour always gets him through.

Rapper and comedian Jester Jacobs is known for his tongue in cheek approach to mental health, using humour to bring up the tougher topics in his music and stand up comedy.

“I made my first album, Mental Disorder, in 2008. I was in my early 20s and was fucked up mentally with a lot of undiagnosed mental health issues and dealing with addiction. I wasn’t on the correct medication or seeking any kind of professional help and the album really was a sort of diary of the time. I wanted to make an album that someone in my position would have liked to have stumbled upon.”

Joe knows connection is hugely important when you’re struggling, but understands that professional support isn’t an option for everyone. He wants his music to be a virtual hand, holding people through life’s tough times.

Jester’s title track, Grimefulnes, from his fourth album (produced by Formz) is about the practical things that helped him through a turbulent time. We know it sounds boring, but the stuff he chats about can really make a difference, from getting enough sleep and drinking water, to going for a run and talking to friends:

“The concept is very loosely around the idea of feeling broken, but still finding a way to get your mind right in spite of flaws and the reality of life. It’s fucking agressive but the message is a positive one and quite useful hopefully. I’ve tried these things over the years and they do help.”

The song is a clever contrast - a narrative on self-care hidden beneath an angry grime exterior. Joe’s lyrics challenge the stigma around male mental health and normalise seeking help. He wants people to connect with the song and maybe even use some of the stuff that helped him when they’re feeling shit:

“Ultimately all I try to do when I make music is to connect with people, get on the same wavelength and find my people. I talk about mental health and addiction so frankly in my music because I hope that people can relate and feel a bit more ease in their own bullshit.”

Joe’s found that chatting with people really helps and he wants to encourage anyone who hears his music to do the same. He’s trying to encourage more conversations about the difficult things, by being honest about them in his work:

“Everybody talks about mental health, but what does it actually mean? In simple terms, check in with yourself daily, speak with your friends and be honest about how you feel before it snowballs.”

Joe’s trying to be more proactive in looking after himself:

“If you don’t call a mechanic when you have a problem with your car, eventually there’s going to be a total breakdown. It’s better to do something for your mental wellbeing early doors and keep things under control. I’m a very lazy person by nature and even though my natural state is to be swamped in electrical devices and sit in my hole, I know the benefits of keeping active and of not getting stuck in a rut.”

We’ve all found things that help us through the difficult times - for Joe, writing and humour are positive distractions when things are hard:

“I don’t know if it’s just my family, but when we’ve gone through the most harrowing of things, we’ve always relied on humour to get through. If you’re able to laugh in the face of absolute carnage and chaos it can help. It can’t be denied that having people in a big room just laughing at nonsense together is healing.

“Music is also a good escape. Writing and having a project to jump into so I can shut out all the other stuff is the nicest thing.”

Now, Joe is raising awareness for CALM, hoping he can point anyone struggling in our direction and help people feel less alone with whatever they’re facing:

“The world is feeling like a grim place at the moment. There’s wars, pandemics, a cost of living crisis and people are struggling in all kinds of ways. Sometimes that makes you feel like the shit that’s going on in your head is insignificant and doesn’t matter, but it does matter.

“You can’t really focus on making a difference elsewhere if you don’t have your own house in order and CALM do a really nice job of making people aware that sometimes it's just a struggle, that everybody's going through it and there's no shame in just reaching out or doing what you can to get your mind right.”

Jester Jacobs is back with more new music - check out his latest album Moose Solutions.

You can find loads of useful stuff on looking after your head here, or if you need support on something you’re facing, CALM’s helpline and webchat are open every day from 5pm until midnight.