Run-DMC's Darryl "DMC" McDaniels will release his second solo album 'Origins of Block Music' this summer, but the veteran emcee says that it will be a much lighter body of work, compared to his previous release. "It's going to be educational, motivational, inspirational, and fun," he told The BoomBox.

McDaniels explained that his 2006 release 'Checks, Thugs and Rock 'n' Roll' was produced at the peak at of his darkest personal turmoil, making it difficult to pour anything but heavy emotions into the album. "When I look back, I did the first solo album after Jay got murdered, I was an alcoholic, I had to go to rehab -- I've been sober five years now -- my father died and then I found out that I was adopted," he said.

"My first album was basically me expressing where I was then. And somebody asked me, 'D, on your first solo album, what would you differently?' And I thought about it, and I said, 'I would've made some happier records.'"The New York City native admitted that at the time, music was one of the only outlets for expressing his emotions. "At the time, I didn't know that therapy was cool, like a lot of other men. Guys: Therapy is gangsta!" he emphasizes. "But at the time, I didn't really have an outlet for feelings. I only had my closest friends, like five people I could sit there and vent to." After surviving his own depression, DMC stresses that it's important for people to find the proper outlets to unload their feelings. "If you can't let out what's in you, it's the very thing that destroys you," he said. "I was suicidal with that first album, thinking 'I want to kill myself. I don't know if I want to be DMC. Jay is dead. Nobody likes me.'

"The reason why music is more powerful than politics and religion combined is because it's emotional. It separates you from race, creed, color and religion, because it's what you feel. I don't care if you can't speak my language – we feel pain, we feel hurt, we feel all of that."

'Origins of Block Music' is slated for a summer release. The album's first single is 'I Got More Songs Than You Do.'

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