“I’m accustomed to artists talking about selling drugs,” journalist and sports commentator Jemele Hill tweeted on Monday, “but so many of them now seem proud to be known as hardcore users.” The argument, which, in fairness to Hill, predates the tweet by many years, says that drugs were prevalent in ’90s hip-hop, but songs about weed and booze didn’t hurt people the way the big Percocet, promethazine, and Xanax anthems of this decade have. The tragic death of 21-year-old Juice WRLD this weekend reopened terrible old conversations about the relationship between rap music and drugs, and a shift from narratives about young men and women peddling illegal substances to stories about partaking. The urge to pawn these events off as some catastrophic fault in the morality of a whole generation is strong. The question of the moment is the question of the decade: Are things just always bad, or are they historically bad? If you’re a fan of a certain age, there could be as many as 15 to 20 voices in hip-hop you sorely miss right now. All of this is happening as fans still reel from the jarring losses of Mac Miller, Nipsey Hussle, Lil Peep, Fredo Santana, XXXTentacion, and many others. In L.A., 03 Greedo is serving a 20-year sentence for guns and drugs found in a 2016 traffic stop after police claimed to smell marijuana wafting off the vehicle, and Drakeo the Ruler beat a murder case this summer that attempted to use his lyrics as evidence, but remains in solitary confinement as local law enforcement attempts to prove that he is a gang leader. Brooklyn’s Tekashi 6ix9ine awaits sentencing on federal racketeering and gun charges and seems set to receive a lighter sentence for his very public cooperation with law enforcement. Youngboy beat a murder charge in 2017 and has struggled to keep the terms of his probation. Baton Rouge’s NBA Youngboy is on house arrest after a roadside incident where his girlfriend was shot, and an innocent bystander was killed. South Florida rhymer Kodak Black is serving almost four years on gun charges. Melly stands accused of arranging for two associates to be shot, then driving them to the hospital afterward his hit “Murder on My Mind” holds eerie resonance. Florida’s YNW Melly awaits trial on two counts of first-degree murder. Tay-K’s signature song “The Race” documented life on the run in a three-month stretch where he and a friend ditched their ankle monitors and skipped town. Nineteen-year-old Texas rapper Tay-K was sentenced to 55 years in prison this summer for his role in a 2016 robbery that left the intended victim shot to death in his own home. If rap’s your business, then rappers are your responsibility.
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