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How Dr Dre and Hip Hop Helped End the Crack Era

rappers on drugs

I knew I couldn’t have drugs in my life,” Gucci Mane shared with the finance publication Money. The fifth entry on our list of rappers who overdosed is the 18-year-old rapper Hella Sketchy. Jacob Tyler Thureson died on June 27, 2019, from an accidental drug opioid overdose. First on our list of rappers who overdosed is multi-platinum rapper DMX.

Music stars reveal struggles with anxiety

  • Despite this, African-Americans, who account for the majority of mainstream rap artists, largely do not seek treatment.
  • The results showed that substance use was referenced in 77 percent of rap songs, the highest percentage of drug mentions among all genres included in the study.
  • The 22-year-old rapper received widespread love from his collaborators and loved ones including the likes of renowned rappers like Gucci Mane.

He was arrested for selling cocaine to an undercover officer at age 19. Erik Ritland is a songwriter, musician, sober rappers journalist, and podcaster based in Nashville, Tennessee. He’s released over a dozen albums since 2002, most recently Old Dog Almost Gone (2021), the first-ever multimedia album, and his latest collection of all original material, A Scientific Search (2020). During his 15+ years as a music journalist, Erik has written hundreds of articles for Music in Minnesota, Something Else Reviews, his own blog Rambling On, and more. In addition to continuing his music career, Erik currently runs The Cosmic American, a music journalism website, and is the editor of Music in Minnesota.

How Did George Harrison Die? The Details Behind the Beatle Member’s Sad Death

  • Those who survived their use of the drug dealt with severe physical and psychological problems that included hallucinations, seizures, psychosis, depression and addiction.
  • Also, some artists proudly speak out against the current drug obsession in Hip Hop.
  • The “Shimmy Shammy Ya” rapper was found at a Manhattan Recording Studio on November 13, 2004.
  • When he was released in September of that year, the rapper reportedly headed straight to rehab in the hopes of finally achieving sobriety.
  • In November 2017, Lil Peep posted a series of messages, images and videos to Instagram.

Macklemore, who struggled with opioid addiction, entered a rehab facility at age 25. Today, he regularly attends 12-step programs, which are self-help meetings designed to treat destructive behaviors, including substance misuse. His brothers sold crack and were frequently incarcerated, and his mother and sisters endured sexual abuse. His traumatic upbringing brought on bouts of anxiety and depression. Lil Wayne isn’t the only rap artist to deal with drug dependence.

Celebrities Who Died in 2022: Gone but Never Forgotten

rappers on drugs

The “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper, Artis Leon Ivey Jr., tragically passed away on September 28, 2022, at the age of 59. These five rappers have taken positive steps to be a part of the rap and hip hop world without substance use. “High Powered,” “The $20 Sack Pyramid,” “The Roach,” “Let Me Ride” and other tracks from „The Chronic“ exalt the benefits of smoking weed. In fact, the album’s title is a slang term for high-grade marijuana and the art for its cover references the packaging for Zig-Zag rolling papers.

Band Aid recordings combined to mark 40th birthday

rappers on drugs

Recently there has been a noticeable shift in the mindset of some MCs when it comes to self-medicating on opiates. Along with his friend Chris Smith, the two were discovered in an Atlanta mall by producer Jermaine Dupri in 1990. “Jump” stayed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for eight weeks in 1992 and the duo’s album, Totally Krossed Out (1992), went multiplatinum. The two also started a short-lived trend of wearing clothes backward. While the group had two semi-successful studio albums, Kelly attended school to become a studio engineer and remained working in music until his death in 2013. While some suspected that he was suffering from cancer, he never confirmed it.

rappers on drugs

Diddy Party Guest Recalls Allegedly Seeing “Little People” Dressed As “Harajuku Barbies” At Mogul’s Parties

  • Macklemore has struggled with remaining sober his whole life.
  • Per The Detroit News, the IRS has been on their case over unpaid taxes more than once, at one point even noting that Shaggy 2 Dope might be imprisoned if he fails to comply.
  • Years of various charges on assault, battery, reckless conduct, disorderly conduct, drug and firearm possession, and assorted driving-themed misdeeds followed — as did stints in jail.
  • Poor economic conditions were, after all, responsible for the creation of highly competitive, often-violent drug markets.
  • After testifying against the gang and providing information, he got away with a two-year sentence, as opposed to the 47 or more years he might’ve been facing.

„Because of its fentanyl’s potency and low cost, drug dealers have been mixing fentanyl with other drugs including heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, increasing the likelihood of a fatal interaction,“ she says. „Fentanyl is much cheaper to make and easier to smuggle because small amounts are very powerful. Many who overdose have no idea the substances they are taking include fentanyl.“ It permeates the music, it’s imprinted in the culture and recently, it’s been having deadly consequences for rappers. „No to drugs, I never spark it“, Tyler said on the first track of his very first project, Bastard.