17 Rappers Who Once Kicked Their Drug Habit

“Having money and doing a lot of drugs,” said the Chicagoan about that period of his career. “This is my first time living outside of my parents’ house in another city and having money and doing a lot of drugs. A lot, a lot, a lot of drugs.” If you or a loved one is struggling with an addiction to drugs or alcohol, help is available. Professional drug and alcohol treatment programs can start those battling substance use problems on the road to recovery. Although all of the Beatles were arrested for drug possession charges at one point or another, George Harrison allegedly managed an arrest on his wedding day. Singer and bad boy Bobby Brown has faced several arrests, including for DUIs and drugs.

DMX’s former manager, Nakia Walker, said he was in a “vegetative state” with “lung and brain failure and no current brain activity”. In July 2021, the Westchester County medical examiner’s office confirmed that DMX officially died from a cocaine-induced heart attack that caused a lack of blood circulation to his brain. References to lean have been common in rap for some time now, especially in the South, where late artists like DJ Screw and Pimp C turned holding double cups into an art form. “Wayne was referencing drugs that people didn’t traditionally rap about using.

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To make matters even more dire, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been solely blamed for making the nation’s drug epidemic “worse,” so reports the American Medical Association. 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. “Hopefully I can be the face to sho niggas to slow down an we got our whole life ahead of us fuck being rock stars gettin high I got ptsd,” he wrote on Twitter, a few days after being diagnosed with liver and kidney failure in October 2017.

• In an interview with Complex, Chance, who celebrated the mixtape’s 10-year anniversary, spoke about the extent of his drug use, and revealed he was regularly offered bags of acid tabs by fans.
• Pusha T has never pretended to be something other than a rapper who excels at using drug dealing to tell his stories.
• In this blog post, we list a few rappers who’ve died from a drug overdose.
• Neil Young wrote “The Needle and the Damage Done,” perhaps one of the most moving songs about heroin ever written.
• A woman in her twenties is claiming to have taken drugs with a famous rapper.

Whether triggered by the drug overdose death of Lil Peep, the 2018 passing of Fredo Santana—which appears to be at least tangentially related to his past drug use—or just wanting to change their health practices, a number of rappers have decided to retire from the hard stuff. UCLA graduate history student Michael Dean said decades of American presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, turned away from investing in disadvantaged communities that house many Black and brown populations. They opted for mass incarceration of those involved with drugs instead.

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Lucki, considered by some to be the father of SoundCloud rap, talks in Freewave 3 about his mother looking up the effect of lean on his kidneys. Even Lil Xan, easily most cavalier artist in this group, has considered changing his name. While many rap artists glamorize and promote drugs that oftentimes influence listeners to experiment with them, this does not mean that all of the rap industry is focused solely on drugs. The industry represents hope for many up-and-coming artists to make a name for themselves, and rap frequently covers inspirational and controversial subjects. It is completely inaccurate to characterize the industry as full of hooligan drug addicts.

This is evident in the satirical music video of “Ain’t It Funny”, which shows how tragic people, who are clearly in pain, have become commodities and everyday entertainment fixtures in American pop culture. With the recent death of rapper Juice Wrld, the lethal impacts of drug culture and usage have become a disturbing reality for many. Juice Wrld died due to an accidental overdose on codeine and oxycodone, prescription pain medication often used to get high, in an effort to hide them from the authorities who were planning https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/what-spiritual-malady-means/ on searching his private jet. His possession of such high quantities of these harmful drugs does not come as a surprise, as it was well known by many of his fans that he regularly experimented with drugs. Since then, younger artists have become much more transparent regarding their experiences with substance misuse. The overdose deaths of Juice WRLD, and others including Mac Miller and Lil Peep, devastated the hip-hop community, shedding light on the problems regarding the prominence of drug use among artists.

Preezy Brown

And this is mirrored by the sound of the music itself, which has inherited slow, spaced-out drums and subdued bass, as rappers channel the numbing effects of the Xan bars they’ve just ingested via sleepy vocals and mumbled, melancholic lyrics. Despite some rappers speaking out against drugs, many fans still feel as though popular songs and the music industry itself promotes drugs in a detrimental way. “After Peep died, a lot of people stopped partying every day,” says Morgan. He has seen drug use tail off among the young rappers he produces; Lil Pump and Smokepurpp announced they were quitting Xanax following Peep’s death. “The younger kids don’t do stuff as much, because they see all the shit that happened in the last few years.” For those who do still indulge, drug-testing kits are becoming common.

• Despite being accused of horrific abuse by an ex-partner, XXXTentacion enjoyed massive popularity before being killed in 2018 aged 20 as he was robbed outside a Florida motorcycle dealership.
• Unfortunately, they get the best of some of our favorite artists at times.
• Gustav Åhr, who grew up in Long Beach, New York, was found unresponsive by his manager.
• If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, visit Help.org.

Alcohol abuse is just as prevalent in 17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults. While it’s a misguided notion to squarely place blame on rappers, or the even broader stroke of “Hip Hop” for brandishing drug culture, a positive reflection in the public eye shouldn’t go unnoticed. Given more reasons to quit, including the overdose death of Mac Miller in September 2018, rappers are deciding enough is enough.

As a young boy, he watched reality shows with his sister and never thought that one day, he would be on the other side of the cameras. Which opens the door for other hometown featured artists Vic Mensa, BJ The Chicago Kid and Twista to make appearances all the same. The former corrections officer, Anthony Cyntje, was sentenced in March to 72 months for his role in the conspiracy. The remaining four defendants https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/rappers-that-struggle-with-addiction/ have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. The drugs were then distributed to dealers, who sold them on Long Island and in New Jersey, according to prosecutors. The drugs were obtained from the West Coast and brought to the East Coast either through the mail or by drivers with hidden vehicle compartments to transport the drugs to Suffolk County, New York, where they were stored, prosecutors said.

Per TMZ, Shock G died from an overdose of fentanyl, alcohol, and methamphetamine, as determined by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner. He was found unresponsive by a hotel manager at a Tampa hotel on April 22, and was last seen the day before. The manager went to check on Shock G’s room after he reportedly missed his check-out time at the hotel.

“For blues music, heroin was a big part of (the culture), and when you look at rock music, cocaine and alcohol are a big part of (the culture), as well,” Braboy said. Many in the hip-hop community – as well as the U.S. at large – deal with the misuse of drugs and alcohol. According to American Addiction Centers, 19.7 million adult Americans in 2017 were reported to have substance use disorders.

Izzy Stradlin of Guns N’ Roses once swallowed his entire drug stash in order to enter Japan on tour and ended up in a 96-hour coma. In the early 1980s, in the midst of the AIDS epidemic, Elton John was, in his own words, “a drug addict and self-absorbed.” Although he came out HIV-negative, he regrets his addiction and currently runs the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Syd Barrett, without question the founder of Pink Floyd, became one of the British rock scene’s most famous acid casualties. His frequent LSD use resulted in him spending entire concerts playing a single chord and even melting a tube of Brylcreem in his hair.