On “The Inspiration,” Jeezy raps over thick, simple music generated by synthesizers. It’s heavy on strings, and much of it suggests the score of a melodramatic shoot-’em-up in the style of Michael Mann. The songs quote music from the eighties—the title track samples Diana Ross’s “Muscles” (swapping out a consonant to become “hustles,” naturally)—and the album generally reproduces the decade’s aesthetic rappers who do cocaine of grandeur on the cheap. The 21-year-old was open in his lyrics about his drug use and mental health, and a video he posted before he died showed him dropping some kind of pills into his mouth. Despite its health risks, marijuana continues to be championed by rappers today. In songs and interviews, Jay-Z has discussed the ubiquity of drugs he saw while growing up in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
1997: Building hype and signing to Def Jam
Some famous rappers who don’t drink or do drugs went to rehab while other sober rappers quit cold turkey. A few famous rap stars who are sober even inspired other hip hop stars to kick their addictions for good. Bun B and Pimp C rap about having pockets full of crack, referring to freebasing, dope fiends, pipes and pregnant women clucking for a crack fix. It’s one of the realest – and grimmest – hip hop tracks about cocaine going, but – paired with a sleazy, winding funk beat – makes you feel like you’re witnessing it all first hand in the front seat of UGK’s Cadillac while driving through the streets of their hometown of Port Arthur, Texas. Be sure to watch drug dealing classic Menace II Society to grab a listen of ‘Pocket Full Of Stones’ as well. Originally JAY-Z was supposed to record one album, his debut Reasonable Doubt, and then ride off into the sunset and become a player behind the scenes, which may explain why it’s so rich and layered with insight into the life and times of a career criminal.
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- Split into two parts (Half Manne and Half Cocaine), the first half has Freddie telling us how he “just broke up a brick on the East with the clique” and “just turned my mom house to a powder house”.
- Even the biggest stars are struggling to keep fans’ attention during COVID-19.
- Despite his repulsion, Jay-Z began selling crack in the 1980s.
- A few months later, he met with President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss the realities of this disease.
Further Reading
However, in recent years, some young rap artists have detailed the consequences of addiction and mental illness in an effort to spread awareness and eliminate stigma related to substance use disorders. The rapid rise of drug references laid waste to Ice-T’s message of abstinence, as Jay Z, the Notorious B.I.G., and Snoop Dogg dropped albums with first-hand accounts of the 1980s crack epidemic. Their experiences selling drugs (and smoking them) translated into platinum-selling records, fueling a generation of rappers intent on telling the story of the hustler. By 1998, cocaine had overtaken marijuana as rap’s most talked-about drug. This trend persisted through the early 2000s with Jay Z, Raekwon, and the Clipse—all of whom kept the hustler-rapper Mafioso persona at the forefront of hip-hop culture. In today’s rap, it seems as if the world revolves around the trade of crack cocaine and all the highs and lows endemic to a marriage of unbridled aspiration and deep despair.
The most popular drug in hip-hop history isn’t the one you think it is.
The Grammy Award-winning artist was addicted to prescription painkillers for years. When he began using opioids, he experienced a burst of euphoria he had never before felt. Codeine misuse can cause shallow breathing, lightheadedness, hallucinations or confusion, low cortisol levels and seizures. Mixing codeine with prescription cough syrup can result in nervous system or respiratory depression. In the 2000s, Xanax, ecstasy and codeine pervaded rap culture.
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This can be seen as the beginning of rap’s long and conflicted relationship with cocaine. Rappers DMX, the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Field Mob’s Smoke have all been involved in high-profile arrests in which they were discovered in possession of crack cocaine that was allegedly for personal use. Philly’s Beanie Sigel, who has undergone counseling at a drug treatment facility, and Staten Island’s Raekwon have rhymed in the past about doing hard drugs. But, overwhelmingly, hip-hop’s tales have centered on the sale of narcotics, not the use.
Rappers Who Addressed Their Addictions
Raising Awareness for Addiction, Mental Illness
- As Pusha T gets ready to drop his long-awaited follow-up to 2018’s Grammy-nominated DAYTONA, the rapper sat down for an interview with Complex and listed off his three favorite cocaine-focused rappers, obviously ranking himself second.
- In late February 2012, Seven Arts Pictures acquired the catalog of DMX’s music and signed DMX to a two-album deal.[35] During a performance at New York’s Santos Party House on December 25, 2011, DMX stated that the new album would be titled Undisputed and would be released on March 26, 2012.
- With names derived from notorious crime bosses Al Capone and Manuel Noriega, it was a safe bet that Queens crimies Capone-N-Noreaga would have many of their rhymes on their seminal debut The War Report laced with blow.
- His mother was a drug dealer and died when he was eight years old.
- A few famous rap stars who are sober even inspired other hip hop stars to kick their addictions for good.
- Hip-hop and TikTok have a symbiotic but uncertain relationship.
- These five rappers have taken positive steps to be a part of the rap and hip hop world without substance use.