Weed, booze, cocaine, pills, and everything substance-oriented under the sun. What’s your favorite hip-hop artist's drug of choice? Maybe it’s a few bars of xanax, maybe it's a bottle of whiskey, or hell, it might even be both of these combined.
Due to the strong relationship between drug abuse and the music industry, only the addicted can be identified as successful artists due to their strong identity within the media, the relatability their fanbase has towards them involving mental health issues, and some, but not all of their premature deaths that promotes a greater recognition for their works, once they have passed.
While it is proven that the most unassumed genres do indeed reference and promote substance abuse, only the heavily addicted hip-hop artists are successfully recognized. This is due to their outlandish behavior that is exposed on media platforms. A prime example of such an artist is an American rapper, professionally known as Post Malone.
Post Malone gained his fame and recognition within the industry from his intersection of hip-hop, pop, R&B, and trap within his variegated vocals. His career took off after he released his 2015 debut single “White Iverson”, followed by catchy albums like “Stoney”, and his single “Congratulations”. Overall, Malone is among some of the best selling music artists with a hefty 80+ million records sold, many music awards including “Billboard Music Awards” and “MTV Video Music Award”(2).
While Malone’s music is well-off, his presence within the music media is certainly not. His exposure of performing live while being heavily intoxicated flashed multiple times on media outlets. Many of his fans recall seeing him stumble across the stage, slur his words, and continuously roll his eyes back while performing his sets. Some even note seeing him finish an entire bottle of whiskey during his concerts (3).
This type of substance abuse exposure is frankly free marketing and publicity for the star. True fans feel deeper for Malone’s obvious addiction abuse which creates a community of genuine fans for him - furthering his success.
Another factor that furthers the fame of artists careers is their referencing of mental health struggles within their songs. And many of these artists are known to cope with their struggles by abusing substances like xanax, alcohol, opiates, etc. While music has always been used as an entertainment element which fosters community, many follow those whose content is the most relatable, mostly in the mental health department.
Post Malone is also known for writing about mental health issues, same goes for Lil Uzi Vert, Mac Miller, and Juice Wrld.
Juice Wrld in specific is highly recognized for his iconic record called “Lucid Dreams”. He personally described this album as a “therapy session” that helped him cope with struggles in his relationship (4). This song is identified as “emo-rap” that depicts the mental turmoil that occurs when relationships die off. Due to the relatability this song has with most human beings, specifically the ones in deep mentally unstable heart-ache, Juice Wrld has gained recognition for highest streaming rates amongst the hip-hop genre.
The last key influencer of the success of these artists is in fact death - specifically those of the premature nature. The music industry in general is known to have a strong relationship with drugs and substances. The continuous abuse of drugs leads to many youthful deaths for countless artists. From Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin to the more recent deaths of Mac Miller and Juice Wrld, artists continue to die at early ages due to overdose or homicide murder.
Such departures shed a spotlight on these musicians which promotes a deeper appreciation for the creative work they left behind. Subconsciously humans are more likely to listen and promote musical works of those who are no longer living, which continues this vicious cycle of drug addiction and suicide within the industry.
Older musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were amongst the cultural phenomenon of the 27 Club - a group of popular musicians, actors, artists, and general celebrities who died at age 27. Other key individuals within the industry who died from overdose (purposefully or not) are Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse.
This well-known formation of iconic stars furthers the promotion of toxic drug abuse, addiction, overdose, and overall suicidal instigations. After a group like this is formed, others follow in pursuit which instills the overall success of their music as their works are considered more valuable than the currently living artists’.
The overall viscous cycle of mental health struggles, addiction, and suicide is one to join or not, however the doom of one's career is at the hands of one of these three leeching factors.
The connection between the drug world and the music industry is a tight one. It's almost as every major artist has struggled or lost the battle with drugs. Drugs seem to fulfill something in these artists that their success doesn't and that really makes me wonder why they really do it. It is so easy to get lost in the world of fame and its honestly sad to see so many talented and innocent artists pass away because of this.
This was a great post, and I love to see you focusing on this issue. I've always had a theory about drug-addiction and mental health among celebrities. It's really important for people to have a sense of purpose in their lives, and most people get this purpose by chasing after a long-term goal or dream. Frequently, celebrities have already achieved this goal/dream. They don't have a further goal to chase, and now they need to derive pleasure from something else. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that theory, it's just a vague idea I've had for a while.
It’s interesting to consider that drugs exist in almost every genre through every generation but serve different purposes and come in different forms. For example, 70s rock refers to cocaine a lot as party drug while modern rappers refer to opioids as a coping mechanism.
Drugs have been in the music industry for quite a while now and I believe it will probably get worse. Most artists are on drugs when creating their music. Drugs can be seen as a step in the process of creativity. Unfortunately, this then leads to drug abuse and dependency and death. It can even lead for upcoming artists to feel the need to hop on this trend and take drugs to create their career. I really wonder when this trend will be banned or come to an end before it's too late. It's honestly really sad and scary to see such influential artists damage their body just to be “more creative”.
What professor Mack said about the intertwining nature of art and drugs really complimented what you had to say about this topic. The idea that art and drugs both allow someone to release tensions and escape from societal standards could suggest why these great artists suffer at the hands of drug abuse within the music industry. I can't help but wonder if this trend will ever falter or be fixed by the industry or society, as this type of trend has been seen in artists and creative minds for centuries dating back to great writers like Wordsworth and Shelley.