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'It was my lowest point' | Sugarhill Gang's Master Gee gets real about depression, the music industry and living in DC

'My lowest point was when I was trying to figure out how to put food on the table,' Master Gee says.

WASHINGTON — Guy O’Brien, who's most widely known as Master Gee from The Sugarhill Gang, is excited about the evolution of music and culture more than 40 years after a song he helped write broke barriers.

The record-breaking song, Rapper's Delight, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.

"It’s like the Super Bowl of music," Master Gee said about the Grammy Hall of Fame induction. "When you get that, it’s like another accolade to go along with the career. Everybody that does -- you want to be considered the best at what you do and the best at what you do ... So, for us to be a part of the Grammy Hall of Fame it just goes to show that we might’ve made something happen."

'Rapper’s Delight' was the first rap single to become a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and become twice platinum.

"That’s our signature song," Master Gee said. "Sometimes people say, 'Do you get tired of doing it?' No. That’s the song that took us around the world that’s the song that introduce this music to the world."

Master Gee was 17-years-old when 'Rapper's Delight' was released and had no idea it would become as popular as it did. As a teenager, he hoped the song would make him popular and help him score a few dates.

Master Gee said the unintended fame derailed his plans to go into the military and to become a radio DJ. He said the success was exciting but also overwhelming at times.

"I went from being a regular kid in the neighborhood to truly -- trying to get out my car and getting mobbed," he recalled.

In the wake of the rise of tabloids, blogs and social media, celebrities and their personal struggles have become amplified more than when Master Gee’s career first started.

He told WUSA9 one of the lowest moments in his life was facing financial problems.

"When you’re a kid and make a lot of money and you’re not used to money, you don’t understand," Master Gee said. "So, my lowest point was when I was trying to figure out how to put food on the table."

He said his financial struggles let to depression.

"It was one of the most depressing times of my life because here I was trying to put into context that I had done all these things, made all these things happen, reached the highest of heights but I couldn’t figure out how to financially make it coincide with the level of success that I had," Master Gee said.

Master Gee took a break from music for years and became a business man which allowed him to rebuild his finances.

"I was able to really put my life back together," he said. "That’s what brought me the time and the mental preparation to come back to what it is that I’m meant to do."

Master Gee got back to performing all over the world with the Sugarhill Gang and has released new music in recent years.

The hip-hop icon has lived in the D.C. area for the last seven years where he most enjoys the vibrant, rich African American culture.

"The chocolate-ness," he said. "I love the fact that there is so many positive, and professional, and successful people out here. It’s very cool. I’m fortunate enough to live a good life. I drive nice cars and the whole nine-yards. I’ll pull up at the light and they’ll be somebody in a nicer car than mine ... I just like the fact that I’m around people that are doing it. I tell people they’re doing it here."

While Master Gee hasn't tried a half-smoke sausage, a food created in the District, he has experienced other food and traditions unique to the DMV.

"My people have turned me on to the mumbo sauce," he said. "You put it on everything -- you’ve got to have it. It’s good. And the Old Bay. Put a little Old Bay on the crab cake and a little mumbo and you’re good to go."

Master Gee hopes to continue evolving and has goals of becoming a radio and television personality.

He told WUSA9 he wants to most be remembered for his authenticity.

"I want people to remember me as a person that was doing it because it was something that I was just destined to do," he said. "I want people to see me as somebody who did it on a positive level, and I want people to see me as somebody who loved his people."

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