For years, rap music has glorified substance use, portraying getting high as an activity with little consequence. Although this trend continues, more rappers today are using their platforms to spread awareness for addiction and mental illness. There are many unfortunate consequences of the current relationship between drug and rap culture. All music seeks to share the artist’s truth, and in the case of rap music, if this truth tends to include drugs, perhaps the two can never be disentangled. There might not be anything we can do about the unintentional normalization of drug use. In his younger years, Eminem had a serious pill-popping addiction, something which is generally well-known if you’re a fan of the MC.

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• Try this list of famous straight edge celebrities (sometimes spelled “straightedge”) and notable people.
• Unlike alcohol (which I didn’t learn to properly abuse until college), it was the one vice that I became familiar with personally, even before I indulged.
• But Hendrix’s inability to share such a positive transition in his life says more about the negative effects of fan culture and the music industry as a whole than it says about him.
• I’ve been drunk nine times in my life, and I ate some weed brownies once,” he told Paper Magazine.
• From Mac Miller’s fatal overdose to Juice WRLD’s drug-induced seizure, the link between death and addiction has been a recurring topic in rap.

At least this was the tune he sang until he released “Just What I Am,” off his 2013 Indicud album, featuring weed rap veteran King Chip, where Cudi repeatedly rattled the bass with the simple melody, “I need smoke. As early as middle school I soon learned that the “skunk” smell wasn’t a rodent at all, but the sweet fragrance of the mind-altering flower. Dro, weed, loud or whatever your region calls it, it was never taboo to me. It was something I just accepted as an aspect of my culture—and in a lot of ways, it is.

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• Most recently, Toosii went on Instagram to set the record straight about what he likes to do in his spare time.
• One of the world’s most famous DJs, Harris stopped drinking when he was 24, a move he credits for having saved his career.
• The Long Beach, California rapper’s decision to stay sober stems from the traumatic events he witnessed during his childhood.
• His traumatic upbringing brought on bouts of anxiety and depression.
• There’s no doubt that Chance’s live-stream only album, Coloring Book, was one of the best albums of 2016.

Fans naturally equate spiraling and unhealthy behavior with good music and would rather see their favorite musician continue to spiral for the sake of their craft and our entertainment. Although there are new movements promoting mental health awareness and self-care within the hip-hop community, fans still praise the destruction of the genre’s biggest artists. This Chicago born and raised rapper is one of the few artists that has not only represented the genre of hip-hop in a positive light, but has been a model of consistency in both his artform and personal life.

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Kendrick Lamar credits a childhood impacted by substance abuse for his choice to live sober. The Grammy award-winner doesn’t drink or do drugs, and he’s a vocal advocate for clean living. In 2011, 50 Cent admitted to Piers Morgan in an interview that although he sold drugs, he’s abstained from using them. “I’ve had an experience with alcohol that made me paranoid because of it and I stayed away from it following that,” 50 explained. It’s odd, because he’s often rapped about drug consumption, like on his Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ song “High All The Time”.

• It is often more difficult for those under the age of 18 to maintain sobriety, seeing as they are faced with so many outside influences daily.
• In a world that seems to revolve around social drinking, it might be hard to believe that some of its most social people are choosing sobriety.
• I didn’t see a problem with the fact that I just couldn’t get up and walk sometimes.” Hopefully Budden can continue to make strides without the use of any drug.
• His high energy, colorful personality and fan demographic (who indulges in drugs quite heavily) doesn’t stop him from speaking on his commitment to the straight edge lifestyle.
• “It’s not something that I honestly ever think about,” he says.

“I don’t do drugs. Period.” Joe Budden proclaimed in a 2013 interview with ThisIs50.com. “Some people can function with drugs, I’m just Substance abuse dysfunctional and self-destructive,” the Slaughterhouse rapper explained. Whether they’re mentioned on the radio, seen in music videos, or smuggled into concerts, drugs are pretty much unavoidable in the genre. Weed, lean, pills, coke, booze, shrooms, you name it, dope’s not to hard to find. Some of these artists have never done drugs in their life, while others choose to abstain from smoking or drinking because of near-death experiences they’ve had. Though some listeners may disagree, these artists have continually shown that they’re more than capable of making quality music without the enhancement of drugs.

Since the 1980s, rappers have referenced substance use in lyrics. Others have expressed concern about drug culture, emphasizing the negative consequences, including addiction. Tyler has been open about his struggles with addiction and his road to recovery. After almost dying from a drug overdose, the rapper decided to clean up his act. Lil Peep’s death was something I expected from a more famous rapper — someone already entrenched in rap culture — not someone so rappers that dont do drugs new to the industry. After all, don’t the problems with drugs usually come after the fame?