Faded Away: Why Drug Culture in the Hip-Hop Industry is Taking the Lives of Your Favorite Artists by Lily Guzman Music & Culture IRL

Northern Virginia Centrally located, safe and discreet outpatient behavioral rehab, including group and one-on-one therapy. Austin In-depth care to help you reclaim your health and quality of life in long-term recovery in the heart of Austin. The Music Culture IRL project provides a framework for writers to explore a social issue or global challenge that matters to them in the context of music culture. Last week, in front of a packed house in Pasadena, California, Eminem addressed his own problems with addiction and took an opportunity to encourage the fans in attendance.

However, when his bandmate died of a heroin overdose in 1988, Kiedis swore he would never again do drugs. Yesterday, Gucci got back on Twitter, talkin’ about how he woke up in a hospital ashamed and embarrassed about his behavior, apologizing for the shenanigans, and admitting to a terrible ten-year lean addiction. In case you’re too privileged and white to understand, lean is codeine cough syrup mixed with soda for an ultimate #traplyfe experience. Recovery Unplugged is a national addiction treatment organization with locations across the country that combines evidence-based practices with music to help clients more readily embrace treatment. More than 23 million Americans aged 12 or older — or 9.2 percent of the population — have abused drugs in the past month, according to the most recent 2012 data from theNational Institute on Drug Abuse. Alcohol abuse is just as prevalent in17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults.

Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Levels of Care

Loss and tragedy in the form of substance abuse and addiction have wracked the hip-hop community for far too long. Artists who spent years living amidst the hardships and poverty that shaped the foundation of hip hop turned to party music, documenting escapism through lyrics of sex, drugs, and lavish lifestyles. The same music has, in some cases, left a dangerous trail of verses that can be misunderstood by impressionable young minds in the midst of their own personal desire for entertainment and escape from daily struggles. It is morally inexcusable for record labels to profit off of men barely old enough to legally drink when their albums are, in essence, recorded manifestos describing an addictive battle they see no release from. How many must succumb to the grip of substance abuse while future generations dance in clubs to their final words? As a society, it is our obligation to do better by the people we have lost and who are still to come in the hip-hop industry.

Alcohol abuse is just as prevalent in 17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults. After revealing he would drink lean 5-6 times a day during his interview onThe Breakfast Club, Lil Baby admitted it started affecting his speech, which forced him to ween off it completely. On May 8, 2018, he tweeted he hadn’t taken lean in almost a month. Seemingly triggered by the death of Lil Peep, Lil Uzi Vert announced he was going sober on social media in November https://ecosoberhouse.com/ 2017. “I was running from my old life tryna get high didn’t want to face them demons…I’m getting help I might just go to rehab.” Before his untimely passing, he stated he hadn’t taken a sip in two months. Recovery Unplugged offers a team of experienced and qualified doctors and nurses who are trained to treat addiction and related health issues. We also have psychiatrists, counselors and social workers on staff to provide a full spectrum of care.

Young rappers are getting honest about doing battle with depression, drug addiction and suicide

Like most people with an SUD, Biden went to extraordinary lengths to score his next hit, from staying in cheap motels to being held at gunpoint. You can also check your insurance coverage online now to determine whether your health insurance provider will cover addiction treatment. These days, prescription drugs seem to be a part of the rapper starter rappers that struggle with addiction kit. 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. All Locations Recovery Unplugged offers treatment centers across the country providing all levels of care for you or your loved one.

In 2017, Beeson and a team of researchers at Northwestern University conducted an analysis of the Billboard Hot 100 year-end charts from 2007 to 2016 to determine the frequency of alcohol-related terms in popular music. The Naloxone Guide Learn how to administer this life-saving opioid antidote. Former royal protection officer Paul Page spoke out about his experience working for Prince Andrew, the disgraced Duke of York and Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite son. In the mind of the average British tennis fan, the sun is always shining at Wimbledon.

How Alcohol Mentions in Rap Music Can Influence Youths

“In terms of recovery, it has been very important for me to be a part of a recovery community, to actively be around my people because they understand me,” said Macklemore. In November 2017, Lil Peep posted a series of messages, images and videos to Instagram.

• Gun violence claimed the lives of Pop Smoke and XXXTentacion; Mac Miller, Lil Peep and Juice WRLD have all been lost to overdoses.
• His addiction resulted in broken relationships and a lack of productivity.
• His mother was a drug dealer and died when he was eight years old.
• She appeared to be under the influence of a narcotic, the report said.
• Given more reasons to quit, including the overdose death of Mac Miller in September 2018, rappers are deciding enough is enough.

For years following his breakout success with the Slim Shady LP and the Marshall Mathers LP in 2000, Eminem abused prescription medications. In an interview withVibemagazine, he admitted to taking as many as twenty pills a day. He would ingest a dangerous mixture of Vicodin, Ambien and Valium.

Macklemore Shares Addiction Story To Help Others

This may be due to socio-economic factors or distrust of the U.S. health care system. As a result, many black rappers are not getting the help they need. Contemporary rap artist Future has bragged about his Xanax use in numerous songs. In his track “56 Nights,” the rap star claims to have taken 56 Xanax pills in a month. The song prompted fellow rapper OG Maco to accuse Future of encouraging people to use drugs. Xanax is a benzodiazepine that is used to treat anxiety and panic disorders. Because of its euphoric properties, a host of rappers over the years — from Eminem to Kanye West — have espoused the drug in music.

But he’s not the first rapper to fall victim to addiction, and thankfully, he’s still alive. After battling addiction for decades, in August 2017, DMX entered rehab at the suggestion of a judge and sobered up.

Achieve lasting recovery

About five weeks later, on March 27, a Tampa police officer responded to International Plaza for a battery call. A woman there told police that Jacobs had come to the mall to meet with her to apologize for breaking her phone the prior night. The woman, whose name is redacted from the report, said she’d been friends with Jacobs for about a year and a half. She appeared to be under the influence of a narcotic, the report said. In one incident, the internationally known hip hop artist and producer named Gregory Jacobs was taken into protective custody under the Marchman Act.

• Like so many of the rest of us, his struggle with substance abuse was filled with ups and downs as he tried to free his life from drugs.
• At only 26 years old, the young singer undoubtedly should have had far more time to continue creating music and inspiring others.
• Though he was able to hide his addiction on a surface level, the problem became apparent to his family, and it was his father who eventually approached him about going to rehab at the age of 25.
• It is now estimated that somewhere around 85 percent of the most highly rated rap songs contain lyrics about illicit drug use.
• Neil Young wrote “The Needle and the Damage Done,” perhaps one of the most moving songs about heroin ever written.
• Mac Miller’s 2014 mixtape Faces is a long, drawn out exploration on themes of addiction, exploring the highs and lows of drug abuse along with the emotional toll it takes on a person after extended use.

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. In the 2012 documentary How to Make Money Selling Drugs, the rapper opened up about his struggles with addiction. We need to integrate addiction treatment with general medical care. It can be hard for fans, peers and loved ones to know quite what to do with an artist like Lil Peep, whose death last year from a suspected Xanax-linked overdose upended the hip-hop and punk scenes alike. But underneath the bravado were lacerating lyrics about depression and drug addiction.