The idea of “sex, drugs and rock-n-roll” has permeated the music industry since its inception. However, what likely starts out as experimentation can sometimes turn into a serious problem with dire consequences. As stated in an article from The New York Times published last September, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50.
So, when Lil Pump and Smokepurpp denounced the highly addictive drug Xanax over New Year’s Eve weekend, it felt like a win for Hip Hop and, more importantly, for the countless young fans who look up to them.
Coupled with support from Travis Scott and Kodak Black’s anti-pill line in the song “Here It Is” a few days later, their proclamations seemed to show a shift from the often rampant glorification of drug use to the idea that maybe it wasn’t so “cool.”
After all, these are three modestly successful rappers who have celebrated — even boasted about — using Xanax and other addictive drugs in the past. In fact, 17-year-old Lil Pump had a cake made in the shape of a Xanax bar to commemorate hitting one million followers on Instagram last June. (He’s now up to 8.2 million).
It’s all fun and games, right?
Wrong.
The opioid crisis in America is so grim that in 2017, around 146 people a day died from an overdose, according to data from the Center For Disease Control and Prevention.
146.
Burgeoning emo rapper Lil Peep overdosed in November after taking a Fentanyl and Xanax cocktail, igniting another nationwide conversation about the illicit use of prescription painkillers.
Over the years, we’ve lost too many talented artists to drug overdoses, including Pimp C, DJ Screw, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, A$AP Yams, Prince and Michael Jackson.
Colorado-based addiction specialist Dr. Jeremy Dubin, who treats addicts every day at his small Loveland practice, believes there’s a correlation between celebrity and overdose death, much like in the case of Prince. The legendary artist passed away in April 2016 from an accidental Fentanyl overdose.
“Celebrities tend to be more isolated,” Dubin explains to HipHopDX. “They have a lot to lose because of the continual stigma of addiction, so they may seek treatment later or not at all. In Prince’s case, he had a doctor like me flying in to help him when the doctor found him dead. Also, opiates don’t just help with pain. They do a great job for co-occuring disorders, such as anxiety and depression. In fact, they called Percocet “Percocet” because it perked you up.
“Add chronic pain, a more-than-willing physician, isolation of celebrity and a potential co-occurring mental health issue, and you have the perfect storm,” he adds. “This happens on Main Street every 10 minutes in this country, it’s just we hear about it more when it hits our celebrities.”
Artists like Macklemore, Eminem and Gucci Mane have used their massive platforms to address their personal struggles with drugs and alcohol, seemingly lessening the allure to pick up in the first place.
On Slim Shady’s new album, Revival, there’s a track called “Castle” that recalls a 2007 overdose that nearly killed him, shedding more light on his journey to recovery.
Fortunately, there’s a program spearheaded by the Grammy Foundation that can offer help to music industry figures seeking recovery — MusiCares. As the website explains, its mission is to provide “a safety net of critical assistance for music people in times of need. MusiCares’ services and resources cover a wide range of financial, medical, and personal emergencies, and each case is treated with integrity and confidentiality. MusiCares also focuses the resources and attention of the music industry on human service issues that directly impact the health and welfare of the music community.”
Director of MusiCares, Shireen Janti-Reid, hopes to wash away the stigma of addiction and make it clear that it’s ok to ask for help no matter who you are. She calls the program the “Red Cross of the music community.” Throughout its nearly 30-year run, MusiCares has helped save the lives of not only many artists but also producers, videographers, tour managers — basically anyone involved in the music business.
“Based on their need, we will go ahead and pay for them to get the help,” Janti-Reid tells DX. “We have contracted rates all throughout the United States, even the world, where rehabs will give us reduced rates that we can afford so we can help our clients. If they need detox, we get them detox.”
It may seem harmless, but when Future raps about Molly and Percocet, or Lil Wayne talks about all that Purple Drank he’s downing, it sends a dangerous message. It’s baffling when artists with such an expansive reach choose to not only minimize the risks but also act like it’s the “wave.” When you’re young, you’re impressionable and you often feel invincible — a precarious combination.
Despite Wiz Khalifa calling lean “lame” last year or speculation that Wayne’s affinity for the stuff caused him to suffer multiple seizures, it’s still something the youth can easily misconstrue as what all the “cool kids” are doing.
Until the rappers who routinely glamorize drug use start truly walking the walk, the “anti-lean” or anti-pill movements won’t make a difference. Yes, we’re going to lose more lives with or without more solid role models — that’s just a fact — but if more artists set a better example, maybe one less kid will pick up that drug.
Addiction doesn’t discriminate. It affects all of us, whether you believe it or not.
This article sucks. Your point is that drugs are bad? No shit. And Eminem was way better on drugs (specifically hallucinogens and ecstasy but that’s besides the point)
You’re an idiot if you think that’s what the point of the article was. The point was that there’s an obvious shift in accountability and perspective in hip-hop in relation to prescription drug abuse. Yeah Eminem may have been better, but at least he’s alive today when he probably wouldn’t be if he didn’t get clean. You’re obviously too dumb to grasp the thesis of this article.
Rappers have been rapping about using drugs of some kind for as long as I can remember. If you’re dumb and impressionable enough to blindly follow someone whose hair looks like multicolored twizzlers then you’re an idiot. That was my point. Also my critique of the article might stem from the fact that the author missed the whole Russ anti-xan movement and the backlash which all occurred prior to peep’s death, and all these xan rappers thought he was a dbag for even voicing that opinion…And yes I’ve grasped the thin thesis here, but if you’re listening to rappers so they can be your role model you may want to listen to christian rap instead.
Multicolored twizzlers ??
Apparently the ‘crying laughing’ emoji shows up as question marks
shut the fuh cup dummy. Article is worth the read, otherwise fools wont even think about stopping until ‘stopping’ becomes cool or the thing to do.
Is that because you’re on Xans and Percs right now?
It’s time to stop glorifying drug use, drug selling, gangbanging, promiscuity, spending money irresponsibly, violence, and basically everything mainstream rappers have been rapping about by default for the past 30 years. Hard Drug use just happens to be the most recent one of those things to be common in mainstream tracks, 10 years ago they were rapping about selling coke instead of snorting it, but that was just as detrimental to the community. Face it, gangster rap is a poison on society, the idiots who say shit like “It’s just a reflection of our environment” know they are full of shit, because the kids do emulate these guys with their million dollar cars and chains.
Co-fucking-sign
Blaming music for peoples problems is just another way to deny personal responsibility for your actions. Stop blaming rappers for you being a fuck up. Science proved that music has no effect on behavior and intelligence. Most of y’all criticizing mainstream rappers got tons of trap shit in y’all phones. Hypocrites
Nobody is suggesting the people who mess their lives up trying to be like Jeezy are not lacking in personal responsibility. I am suggesting that gangster rap has a bad effect on the community, because they promote a lifestyle that leads to people being dead or in jail, but they act like it is glamorous. Yeah yeah yeah I know, it is a lifestyle that would exist with or without the music promoting it, but you can’t deny that people who would otherwise never think thuggery is cool are brought in because the people promoting it appear to have amazing lives with women and money. Anybody pretending this negative influence is not detrimental is not being honest with themselves, and show me the study you are citing showing that “science proved that music has no effect on behavior”.
And I won’t lie, I do have some ’90s gangster rap in my playlist, but the closest thing I have to trap is Clipse. I hate trap music with a passion.
Yes, i agree we must stop glorying drugs in rap music. I don’t know how we can do it because the corporations control the musical content. As long as the radio co signs this junk it won’t stop ever. The rappers are willing to say anything to get paid especially today’s rappers. They need the radio to make them hot. Thus they lose all of their standards and morals to make a few pennies. The other problem in this equation is the lack of positive black artists being played on the radio. Sex, drugs and violence will always sell but positive black messages won’t sell as much. Plus, the corporations don’t want to hear positive black messages. The corporations care only about one thing and that is money. Standards and values do not come into play until they go to far.
“corporations control the musical content.” – Bullshit. Stop blaming others. When gangster rap started it got no radio play and it wasn’t signed to any big labels. It got it’s start solely by being celebrated in the streets.
Yes, it started in the streets and suburbs but the corporations didn’t have to play the music. If the radio had standards, we wouldn’t be talking about this. No one forced the radio to play illegal activities on the air but they wanted that money regardless of what it is. The radio could play more positive groups if they wanted to but sex, drugs and violence always sell. Look at the jerry springer, his show is all about disfunctional people but it sells like crazy. Jerry never has any positive stories because negativity is easier to sell. The corporations control the content. Nobody makes them play this shit. The corporations know they can make the most money from illegal activities than positive messages. In my opinion you are wrong but nice conversation.
shits a tricky situation because you can’t blame the radio for playing what the people wanna hear. But at the same time the radios almost been manipulating everyone’s opinion of what’s hot since the day we were born. We’re shoveled this garbage from a young age so our musical minds are molded to be into some trash that’s being put out. IMO were all listening to the same damn song created by the same damn formula that has made a countless number of songs. I know there’s a bunch of artists out there that still make real unique authentic music but its so sad that theyre not at least a little bit promoted so I wouldn’t have to search all over the internet to find someone i actually like
I feel you! I don’t listen to the radio anymore. I want quality hip hop music and not rap trash. So i go online to find out when the next classic hip hop record drops. It can be a pain in the ass at times but when i find the next gem it is all worth it. I’m from the golden era so looking for fresh records isn’t a new concept for me. We always used to dig for the newest records anyway because no biting was allowed back in the day.
Gangsta Rap, Gang Violence, Drug Dealing and other Criminal activities are tolerated for decades but now where some rap kids do drugs you wanna speak out about it. GTFOH Hypocrites. Their Drug use is the smallest evil coming out of Rap. Speak out against the Gang stuff, the sh*t that happens in Chicago, Discrimination in Hip Hop etc.
Violence and gangs existed long before hip-hop. To act like they exist because of hiphop is ignorant af. Glorifying violence is dumb af but at this point this is a bigger and more deadly crisis, therefore making this article relevant af. And to act like this author is responsible for the violence perpetuated in gangster rap is stupid as hell. If you’ve got all these problems with hiphop then why are you here bitching about it in a comments section instead of out there doing something about it? At least this author is using their platform for some good instead of just bitching like a little crybaby.
And Drugs didnt exist before Hip Hop?? Doesnt matter if Gang violence existed before Hip Hop. The point is Hip Hop glorified it and made it cool. Same as the drug talk now and btw who do you think created Junkie Rap? Gangsta Rap! Cuz you cant sell Drugs without Customers. So the Glorifying of Drug selling in Hip Hop created the Drug Consume Society in Hip Hop. Also, if you do drugs you damage yourself but with gangsta stuff you damage innocent people who dont wanna be part of that life.
A dumb ass is what you are for this comment. You are on a hip hop site complaining about an article that was intended to bring awareness to an issue that affects far more than just hip hop artist. Fucking troll
Since when was ASAP Yams a talented artist.
What about freedom of speech?
It’s cool to glorify being a junkie now. Smh.
Lol I was thinking the same thing. Normally we would look at people like this and just shake our heads. This younger generation is messed up.
Just like how it used to be cool to sell drugs.
Record labels should stop picking xanax induced teens with fruity pebble dreads, body/face tattoos, while excluding anything that has “lil” before an even more ridiculous name. I blame the record labels for promoting this ish. But subconscious artists are a threat while ironically this even controversial lifestyle is glorified.
What is a “Subconscious Artist?” Sure you didn’t mean “conscious?”
Autocorrect. Stfu you tropical fish…
Record labels are about $. Their choices are made to magnify $ in their bank accounts. Usually its $ > morals
No Joyner Lucas mention? He was the first one I know really talking about this.
I’m actually convinced that this talent-less degenerate piece of shit is an industry plant designed to push up sales.
Me too. Not just him, but many artists. At first it was just kind of a conspiracy theory. But the more I see rappers like this that are so egregiously offensive, almost to the point of cartoon characters or drug-caricatures I feel like it has to be contrived. I really do think that the industry was taken over strategically about 7 or 8 years ago by the same powers that run everything in America now. Rap is a multi-billion dollar industry with millions upon millions of listeners. You don’t think the government takes it seriously? Name one other billion dollar industry that the government hasn’t taken control of? Exactly. They invaded Afghanistan for the poppy fields which produce the opium. You think their only prescription drug promotions are on commercials during sporting events? No, they promote it through rap too. By the way, when did commercializing prescriptions drug become legal? Before 2006 did you ever in your life see a commercial for a prescription drug. No. And it IS illegal. Nobody cares though, because everyone is on them. If you can get an entire country to be sleepy eyed drug zombies then they’ll go along with anything. It’s real. Peace.
good article, thank you
Sad how this crap is being pushed off on the youth I guess to even listen to this garbage you need to be high
You hit the nail on the head. This music is for “turning up”, it’s created for kids by kids at parties. Blame No Jumper. That old man has been exploiting kids on drugs for the past few years and cashing in on it…
Well no shit… and why just prescription drugs and not street drugs too. The Heroin epidemic in this country is straight up ridiculous and only getting worse. Fuck drugs, if they don’t kill ya they’ll just fuck you in the head. Ain’t no rappers rapping about that tho
It’s time to stop glorifying alcohol. It does more damage than any other drug.
Then stop promoting rappers that glorify it!! By doing that, YOU are glorifying it. How do you not see that? As a website, you have control of your content. Yes, it’s their right to free speech to talk about it, but it’s also your right as a website to not promote it. Part of the problem in America is this “It’s out of my hands” and “that’s not my problem” attitude. “We don’t condone it, we just report it”. If you’re making money and getting viewership from it, then you’re condoning it and you’re complicit with it. I never heard of 90% of these teenage drug rappers until they got shoved down my throat on THIS website. But this will probably get mysteriously deleted anyway. I would like a response to this though. I’m open to a dialogue, not trolling on my end or dictatorial editing on your part. Peace.
Wise words
Traffic dictates what stories get written. When people stop caring about idiot junky rappers, sites will stop writing about them. Doesn’t work the other way around. Traffic is what pays the bills and keeps sites like this afloat. They can’t afford to ignore high traffic stories that people care about, no matter how deplorable the subject is. Just facts of internet business. Would be nice to be able to ignore the idiots and focus on the core values that the culture was founded upon. Unfortunately that wouldn’t make for a very lucrative business.
So, how long until the next article about a rapper’s drug use ends up on this site? One word notably missing from this article is “media”. There are rappers I hadn’t heard of until I heard about their drug bust or drug related shenanigans.
Stop glorifying prescription drugs??? DID THEY FORGET THE HARDEST LINE OF THE CENTURY: “ME AND MY GRANDMA TAKE MEDS” – LIL PUMP. Maybe if the lines about drug usage weren’t so DOPE we could stop.
You think that is the hardest line of the century? What a fucking bird brain. HHDX stop posting garbage, I’m about close to being done with your site.
How is this garbage? This is the best and one of the most important hip-hop related stories to come out in the last two years. I’m sorry, would you rather be reading about the color of Beyonce’s twins new binky? C’mon now.
Kyle! SMH stop posting articles about these deplorable mumble rappers then maybe shit will start to change
Tell the public to stop reading that shit and giving these idiots a fanbase and maybe sites like DX won’t have to cater to them. The sites only follow what their traffic analytics show them. The facts are people like reading about idiot shitty rappers. Once the public demands more from artists and stops paying attention to the shitty ones, only then will the blogs stop writing about them. The public controls what is popular, not the sites.
Maybe HHDX can organize influential rappers to do a publicized talk/forum on this to discourage youth from drugs and where they can get help.
So you want the rappers who got big by catering to the lowest common denominator of people by making drug rap seem cool and preaching drug use to gain fans, to stop doing the formula that has made each of them millions respectively? Ya right, I know these guys are a problem, but these guys are spewing music peppered with drug references because all the fucked up people who do drugs WILL listen. If they stop rapping about drugs, these people will just make another rapper popular that will.
Xanax is not an opioid it is a benzodiazepine. I am revolted by this story. Everyone everywhere saying so this smack about opiods like their such a bad thing. One day y’all be old injured or dying a painful death and wish to Christ you had a damn pain pill. GTFOH
You’re silly
You’re dumb as fuck. Of course opioids have a legit use. This article is not about chronic pain patients taking their medicine as directed. It’s about addicts abusing drugs illicitly, taking more and more as their tolerance goes up. Judging by your post, my guess is you’re an addict currently on pain meds, lying to yourself about your need for them and this article made you uncomfortable about your own issues and relationship with opiates. The facts don’t lie. Shit’s killing tons of people…and those people aren’t patients taking it as prescribed. They’re heroin addicts slamming fentanyl laced H in their veins. There’s a big difference.
Hip hop and rap trash are two very different things. 2017 proved it.
Time for journalists to stop telling people what to do. What a supercilious title. Thanks for telling me what to do GOD.
I don’t see anything that this article is telling people what to do other than highlight a clear and present issue that’s getting glorified for the wrong reason. Don’t be a troll.
You’re absolutely right. People can’t think for themselves so we need a nanny state. You want to tell artists what to do?
We need an anti-Trolling movement it’s a form of bullying
We need an anti-SJW movement.
HHDX promotes these artists and will gladly take their advertising money. Respect for the moral crusade but it’s hypocritical and synthetic because you will resort back to promoting trap rap (rick ross, lil trappy, etc..) as soon as the check clears…
Drugs are bad mmmmk
I think that actually all these pill popping rappers are good role models. They are dying at like 20, that speaks louder than any words.
who gives a crap, its survival of the fittest. we gotta weed out the crap.
Lmao because MJ was considered “crap” right?
that dude a transgender??? stop buying these guys garbage and promote real stuff. Cut that sellout trash out of your playlists!!!