Mental illness is a serious issue that is rarely talked about in general, let alone rap music.
Oddisee outlines his purpose for the track in an interview with NPR:
There’s another song on the album, called “Waiting Outside,” that talks about mental illness. I mainly focus on mental illness in the African-American community, but there’s something that needs to be said about depression, stress and mental illness in the communities of developing countries. Sudanese people, and many other countries around the world, see the idea and the concept of depression, stress, anxiety attacks, nervous breakdowns, mental illness, as something that only white people and Europeans go through and experience — let alone seek help for, and actually speak to someone and pay someone to help them with their problems.