The rapper and YouTube star said that he moved to California to distance himself from the people and places that led to his mental illness. But he continued to battle depressive thoughts, including suicidal ideations. In the ’80s, as rap music grew in popularity, crack cocaine use swept the nation. Processed with ammonia or baking soda, crack is a freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked to achieve a high. Because it is cheaper and more readily available than powdered cocaine, crack quickly took hold in poor urban communities. Miller died from mixed drug poisoning, which includes the combination of cocaine, fentanyl, and alcohol.
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It can affect an artist’s ability to deliver consistent quality work, resulting in missed opportunities and damaged professional relationships. Since molly’s fading popularity and the increase in codeine mentions, other over-the-counter and prescription drugs have crept https://ecosoberhouse.com/ into hip-hop’s woozy landscape. Rap’s obsession with Xanax began in 2011 when Tyler, The Creator mentioned the pill on “Yonkers.” Since then, Young Thug, Future, and 2 Chainz have all mentioned Xanax in their music. As hard as people like Andre’a and Carmela are working to stem the tide, drug use continues to rise. In recent years, artists like Lil Yachty, Chief Keef, Gucci Mane, G Herbo, Lil Baby and others have revealed they kicked lean habits. “Overdose amongst rappers and Americans in general has become an epidemic, unfortunately,” she tells XXL.
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While, for the most part, drug use in hip-hop has never been taboo (meaning you can’t totally blame this on the kiddos), the promotion and use of drugs of the highly addictive nature is at an all-time high. Macklemore penned this tribute to his friend Kevin, who passed away from an overdose of prescription pain pills in 2010. The song appeared on his album “This Unruly Mess I’ve Made”, and contains numerous references to Oxycontin and the greed of the pharmaceutical industry. Phillip Coleman, 34, a rapper in Rochester, New York, who goes by the name GodclouD, started using at age 15 after being prescribed 5-milligram tablets of Percocet following wisdom tooth extraction. That set him on a path to misusing prescription painkillers, which led to cocaine and then a heroin addiction that eventually landed him in prison. That toxicity reaches into populations already plagued by perpetual cycles of poverty, poor health and lowered life expectancy.
What are some common drugs that rappers struggle with?
- The partnership comes at a time when alcohol use is rising and overdose deaths are at an all-time high.
- As he explained, in 2014, when he began experiencing success in his career, Chance moved to North Hollywood and was high on Xanax every day.
- Substance abuse can lead to a decline in creativity, reliability, and overall performance.
He’s written numerous songs about the pitfalls of drug use and alcoholism, but perhaps his most impactful is the single from his certified classic album “Good Kid Maad City”. Addiction is an isolating disease that draws us further and further away from those closest to us. Sometimes it can feel as though you are all alone, facing your demons alone. Fortunately, there are artists out there who have struggled with addiction as well.
He passed away on September 7, 2018, at the age of 26 years old. Two dealers have been sentenced to prison in connection with Mac Miller’s fatal overdose. First on our list of rappers who overdosed is multi-platinum rapper DMX. On April 9, 2021, the “Party Up (Up in Here)” rapper suffered a heart attack that was triggered by a cocaine overdose.
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Cole was being celebrated for his Album Of The Year-winning K.O.D., a project ripe with anti-inebriation anthems, and Mac Miller was being mourned following his accidental drug overdose death that September. In 1984, Grandmaster Melle Mel released “White Lines (Don’t Do It),” an anti-drug message disguised as a party anthem. Shortly thereafter, Kool Moe Dee doubled rappers with drug addiction down on the message in “Crack Monster,” a song dedicated to the “devil” that was encroaching on life in black America. In May, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram addressed the public safety issue of the deadly drug surge.
- The “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper, Artis Leon Ivey Jr., tragically passed away on September 28, 2022, at the age of 59.
- Following the 2019 death of Juice WRLD, his equally charged counterpart Trippie Redd vowed to whittle his vices down to marijuana; a promise he’s at least upheld in the public eye.
- During this time, he also began misusing Xanax and other sedative medications.
- DMX’s addiction issues were well-documented, and he openly spoke about his struggles in interviews and his music.
DMX, known for his gritty delivery and introspective lyrics, struggled with drug addiction throughout his career. His addiction to crack cocaine and other substances contributed to legal troubles and health issues. Despite multiple attempts at rehabilitation, DMX tragically passed away in 2021 due to a drug overdose. Eminem is one of the most prominent rappers around and has been open about his time in rehab. His drug addiction began in 2002 when he started taking pills for his insomnia.
To close out 2021, President Joe Biden launched dual executive orders to combat what they call a “billion-dollar business” responsible for the deaths of 100,000 Americans in just the span of a year. Yet, this country has seen “war on drugs” initiatives crash and burn in the past — a point JAY-Z so confidently pointed out in 2016. Although Wayne popularized lean in the late 2000s, Houston group the Botany Boys were some of the first MCs to mention lean on wax. Their 1995 record, Smokin’ N’ Leanin’, is littered with references to syrup, some 20 years before Atlanta’s Future released Dirty Sprite 2—an ode to the drug he denies being addicted to.