Hip-hop is therapy for Tye Harris.
Tonight's session is at the Granada Theater. He takes the stage in his red Adidas joggers and a jean jacket. He's nervous, but he pulls the mic close to him. It's time to channel T.Y.E, his alter ego and more confident side.
The lights dim and his hip-hopera begins:
"Something is unusual, with me
"I feel a little off balanced. I feel a little bit strange.
"Some people call me peculiar. Some people call me deranged."
His rap unfolds his mental health struggles dating to his childhood in Dallas. The 24-year-old lays bare his experience to the audience, including two suicide attempts.
Now, he's trying to help other people with his music.
For communities of color in Texas, suicide rates are on the rise for young men, as are reported thoughts of suicide.
While the numbers still trail those of whites, the suicide rate has grown faster for young black and Latino males in Texas over the last 10 years, a Dallas Morning News analysis of federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data found.
Among black males 24 and younger, there were 9.2 suicides per 100,000 people in 2017, the most recent data available, compared with a rate of 3.7 suicides in 2007. It was the most dramatic increase among demographic groups, with the suicide rate more than doubling.
For young Hispanic males, the suicide rate increased about 55 percent to 7.6 suicides per 100,000 over the past decade. Suicides by young white males increased by 43 percent to a rate of 15 per 100,000.
Suicide was the third-leading cause of death for black and Latino males under 24 in Texas, after accidents and homicide, according to CDC data.
Black and Latino male high school students also have shown increased suicidal thoughts, according to youth survey data from the CDC.
But those communities are still largely silent about the problem, hindered in part by cultural and economic factors.
No one direct cause is behind the suicide rate increases, mental health experts say, but they point to inequities that have taken a toll on the emotional health of young black and Latino men.
While mental health problems affect every demographic, these young men are more likely to live in poverty, experience trauma or be exposed to violence. And they are less likely than whites to seek help, experts say. The cost of mental health treatment adds another barrier to care.
And for some, the ongoing immigration crisis causes anxiety, with fears about deportation.
When boys struggle with their emotions, they often don't talk about it, said Dr. Brian Dixon, a Fort Worth, Texas-based psychiatrist. Dixon said negative childhood experiences _ like abuse, parental separation or family incarceration _ can lead to trauma and mental health disorders in children.
Boys who haven't had behavioral treatment or learned coping skills can become "actor-outers," Dixon said. It's a contrast to girls, he said, who are often "actor-inners" and become withdrawn.
With boys, "you get the signs and symptoms of dealing with trauma: They scream, cuss. Some will use drugs to self-medicate, or they fight," Dixon said.
It's a spiral that rapper Harris knows well. Now he wants to share what he's learned about mental health as he works to cope with anxiety and trauma.
"All of my music is first to teach, second to relate and third is to entertain," Harris said. "That's my goal. And, hopefully, trying to get somebody to get out of killing themselves."
