Premiere: Listen to Travie McCoy's Freestyle Over Tove Lo's 'Habits

An impressive remix that McCoy says he connected to "instantly."

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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A few years back, Gym Class Heroes frontman and solo artist Travie McCoy went through a pretty intense detox program to kick his addictions. Since then, he's been steadily making solo music including last year's single, "Keep On Keeping On." Today, he's back with an impressive freestyle over Tove Lo's "Habits," which he says he connected to instantly. 

He explained to Complex over email why this song hit home for him. Read it, in full, below and check his freestyle over Tove Lo's "Habits," as well:


"I knew exactly what it felt like to self-medicate to forget and to numb myself from emotions that at times can be so crippling that you're physically unable to do things you would do normally without a second thought. The allure of making those feelings go away by simply taking a pill or having a drink is so overwhelming because for the most part, IT WORKS! But at what cost? Sometimes jail, sometimes institutions or ultimately, DEATH!! This song also came out at a very dark point in my life, when I was dealing with a very heavy relapse and trying to get my shit together. Most people already know that I've been dealing with addiction on and off for a decent chunk of my professional career and well before. This seemed like the last go-round for me. Although I've come to realize that this is something I'm going to have to deal with for the remainder of my life, I also realized that I didn't have to go through it alone. I've been fortunate enough to be surrounded by friends that understand the illness of addiction and have been nothing but supportive and loving toward me on this journey of sobriety. My take on this song is pretty straight to the point and very, very autobiographical. There were a few reservations I had initially about releasing it but I've never been one to hide what's going on in my life with my music. After all it's my outlet, an outlet that's saved my life on many, many occasions. If ONE person hears this and decides to put down that drink or that pill or even reach out to someone they trust and confides in that person that they may have a problem, then me throwing myself under the bus and risking losing a fan or two was completely worth it.

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