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For those unaware, October happens to be National Bullying Awareness Month in the United States. The campaign was founded in 2006 by PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center, an organization dedicated to raising awareness to the harmful effects that bullying can have on children. In recent times, the national media has begun to focus on the negative effects of so-called "bullying culture" and the ways that it can be prevented through raising awareness in the public.

While it's true that hip-hop seems to identify with the "bully" more than it does with the "bullied," often reveling in a hyper-macho culture that encourages hiding weakness, there have been a few rappers to open up about their experiences with bullies growing up. Like any segment of humanity, it's overwhelming likely that some people will have suffered from people trying to pick on them as a child. Here are seven rappers who have talked about their experiences with bullies.

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Eminem

Marshall Mathers would not be the rapper we think of today if it were not for a childhood spent ducking bullies along 8 Mile Road. Eminem is quite possibly the most famous rapper to ever admit to suffering from being picked on by childhood bullies. Early in his career, Eminem wrote songs like "Brain Damage" where he described being physically and mentally bullied by one of his classmates, D'Angelo Bailey, during middle school.

In 2003, Bailey sued Eminem for $1 million dollars for ruining his reputation after the release of the song. The claim was famously tossed from court by Judge Deborah Servitto, when she delivered her ruling in Eminem's favor in the form of a rap. The judge famously rapped in front of the court, "Mr. Bailey complains that his rep is trash/So he's seeking compensation in the form of cash/Bailey thinks he's entitled to some monetary gain/Because Eminem used his name in vain" and "the lyrics are stories no one would take as fact/They're an exaggeration of a childish act/It is therefore this court's ultimate position/That Eminem is entitled to summary disposition."

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Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj might be one of hip-hop's most extroverted and confident personalities, but that did not prevent her from facing the wrath of schoolyard bullies in her teen years. In an interview with Teen Vogue, Nicki opened up about her struggles with bullies at school.

“Every time my parents fought, my mother would have us move, and I would have to go to a new school, which meant I'd have to face the task of making new friends," she told Teen Vogue. “I dreaded it. I had butterflies in my stomach each time: 'Are people going to like or hate me? Will they talk about me?'”

Bullying would follow Minaj to the extent that her older brother would often be forced to intervene on her behalf: “I encountered jealous girls a lot—it wasn't like I had nice clothes, so they couldn't be envious of that, but they were like, 'You shouldn't be that confident,'" she said. “Sometimes, if I felt like there was a physical threat, I would call my older brother and say, ‘Can you meet me after school because I don't know what might happen?' Sometimes there'd be a fight, sometimes not. I let people know I wasn't going to be pushed around. What it came down to is that the bullies wanted me to bow down to them. And I just wouldn't.”

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Childish Gambino

Comedian/rapper Donald Glover a.k.a. Childish Gambino has spoken extensively about his experiences being bullied growing up in Stone Mountain, GA. Glover, a self-described "weird kid," has not only written songs about being bullied, but in a 2011 interview with George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, he spoke eloquently about his experiences: "When I was in 7th grade, I got bullied so bad. I got called the F-word, the N-word, all the time, and I felt so bad about myself. And I look back now, and none of those problems mattered at all... All the things that make you a popular person in 7th grade make you a horrible human now."

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Drake

While at times on social media it seems as if Drake is being bullied every day by people making jokes at his expense, in recent times, Drizzy has offered hints that he was also bullied as a teenager in Canada, too.

On his recent song "Pound Cake," Drake offers hints that he was less than popular at his high school. "My classmates, they went on to be chartered accountants/Or work with their parents, but thinking back on how they treated me/My high school reunion might be worth an appearance/Make everybody have to go through security clearance," Drake raps, alluding to the idea that he was bullied by his former classmates.

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Machine Gun Kelly

In an April 2012 interview with AllHipHop, Machine Gun Kelly revealed that his love of Yonkers rapper DMX's music helped him persevere in the face of childhood bullying. “When my mom left and all that other s**t, fights with kids at school, getting picked on, DMX was that man,” Machine Gun Kelly told AllHipHop. “I always put on some DMX and imagined myself beating people up.”

On his song "The Return," Machine Gun Kelly also spoke about the experience being bullied when he rapped, "People wanna be my friend?/But where the fuck were y’all when I was 10/11 and 12 gettin' bullied and beat up in the gym/I couldn’t ever get a girl/Now all a sudden I’m the man/Students try to get back cool with me, again."

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Brother Ali

Brother Ali might be one of underground hip-hop's most unique personalities as a White Muslim who happens to struggle with the effects of albinism, a genetic disorder that is characterized by the absence of pigment in the skin.

Brother Ali has been open about his struggles with the disorder over his career and talked to RapGenius about being an outcast as a child and eventually overcoming it through his connection with hip-hop.

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50 Cent

When you think of people who are least likely to get bullied, 50 Cent might literally be the last person to come to mind. The gangsta rapper has a reputation of being one of the most ruthless and feared rappers in all of hip-hop due to his penchant for firing diss songs at anybody and everybody who crosses his path.

After speaking with his young son about an incident on the schoolyard regarding another child being bullied, 50 Cent might have had a change of heart as he was inspired to write an anti-bullying young adult novel Playground after speaking with his son. Released in 2011, the book is written from the perspective of a schoolyard bully who finds redemption after realizing the fault of his terrorizing his fellow classmates.

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