With five words, did JAY-Z shatter a stigma about therapy and mental health?

Last week, JAY-Z released 4:44, his anticipated album-in-reply to his wife Beyonce’s tour de force about infidelity in their marriage, Lemonade. Fans immediately began parsing JAY-Z’s lyrics and one song in particular, “Smile,” piqued the Internet’s interest for its mention of his therapist–and for the larger cultural effect of this acknowledgment of JAY-Z’s being (or having been) in therapy. Over at Bustle, Nina Bradley writes:

“Smile,” the third song from JAY-Z’s newly released project, discusses a variety of pressing issues, including sexual identity and the perils of being a black man in America. Amid those meaningful statements, JAY also seems to reveal that he sees a therapist halfway through the song. During the nearly five-minute track, he raps, “My therapist said I relapsed.” It was certainly a surprising, yet refreshing, admittance on his part.

On the surface, it’s unclear whether or not the mention was just happenstance or has a deeper purpose. Nevertheless, it could very well prove to be an important reference for the mental health community. Particularly, if it stands to remove some of the stigma associated with mental health. Throughout history, there’s been an overwhelmingly negative notion related to therapy, which has seemingly created an aversion to the idea of seeking out treatment — sometimes placing feelings of shame or guilt on participants.

When writer David Dennis, Jr. tweeted about the line this weekend, he received thousands of passionate replies, a tidal wave of opinions about therapies, their uses or ineffectiveness, and their affordability or unaffordability. The array reflects just how complex and crucial the issue is.

In the blink of a lyric, JAY-Z’s brought the issues that we at Open Path most care about to the surface.

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Read Nina Bradley’s take.

Check out the replies to David Dennis, Jr.’s tweet, below.