G Herbo is reflecting on his traumatic childhood, revealing that school was so unsafe the dean advised his mother to allow him to drop out to pursue a music case as so many students were getting killed on the streets. 

The rapper grew up in an area of Eastside Chicago known by locals as “Terror Town.” G Herbo opened up about his childhood during a livestream conversation about his Swervin’ Through Stress mental health organization. 

When he launched Swervin’ Through Stress in late 2018, G Herbo initially intended to provide free therapy sessions for 150 kids, but around 5000 kids signed up within the first few hours.  

“That’s when I knew it was something that was needed in the community,” he explained.  

“[Violence is] so destigmatized in the community where it’s normal,” he said. “People get shot, people witness murders, people endure so much trauma and then the next day it’s like it never happened. They go back to school; they got to go to basketball practice and they expect them to function on a normal level. People never really get treated for what we feeling.” 

G Herbo Witnessed The Effects of Gun Violence From An Early Age 

Herbo explained he felt “connected to those children” because of his own experiences as a child. “I got shot when I was 16 years old, I seen my first murder when I was 9 years old,” he said “I thought I was normal in a sense because everybody around me was feeling the same way.” 

Recalling his school days, Herbo explained he quit at 16 with the dean’s approval.  

“School wasn’t really safe for me at all, I’m not going to lie. That was one of the reasons why I dropped out of school,” he said. “My Dean told my mom, ‘He got potential, I think you should just really let him focus on being an artist because coming here every day really not going to be beneficial to him. I think if he got something good, just let him chase his dreams.’ Because people were dying in my school every other week.”