Styles P Discusses Promoting Healthier Living

Jadakiss and Styles P are arguably two of the most underrated MC’s in hip-hop, but they never let that statistic slow them down. Two of three members of the Lox partnered up to form Juices For Life, a chain of juice bars that they specifically placed in low-income areas in their hometown of Yonkers, NY, as well as the Bronx.

The two set out to give people in those low-income areas, also known as “food deserts," an alternative to eating fast food, and junk. Nutritional food isn’t something easy to come by in those types of communities, especially in the New York area.

According to Styles P, “We’ve been trained and programmed to eat wrong, and think it’s ok to eat wrong.” A hectic tour schedule, bad eating habits, partying, alcohol, and drugs, no sleep, and no exercise we’re all things the “Money, Power, & Respect” rapper cited as issues with being in the music business. “It started getting to a point where I would feel sluggish, and I would recognize I felt sluggish, after eating so many pieces of chicken, or eating a burger,” said Styles, “I start noticing when I ate the greens or took a wheat grass shot, that I, I wouldn’t… I felt better about myself, and then I notice when I felt better about myself, it got me into less problems.” Styles says he found his "happy place” after he made the decision to eat better and get healthy.

Coming from a small town like Lake Charles, La., I can’t say that we were given alternatives for healthier food either, certainly not if you lived north of Interstate 210 — things seem to be changing now though. It’s great to see such pivotal hip-hop figures making a difference by bringing healthier alternatives into their own communities.