Rapper Kendrick Lamar says that Hip-Hop’s promotion of drug use is not cool
From Your BlackWorld
The rapper Kendrick Lamar is speaking against the promotion of drug use in hip-hop music. The drug in the rapper’s cross-hairs is one called “Molly,” a very dangerous drug that rappers are now speaking about to impressionable youth.
Lamar says that he wants to tell the public that there are times when you can’t follow a trend just because it has become popular.
“Sometimes you have the trends that’s not cool,” Lamar told MTV.
Molly was most recently publicized when the rapper Rick Ross spoke of using the drug to sleep with a woman without her permission. Another song by Wiz Khalifa repeats the word “Molly” over and over again in the song, as if the rapper is spending his life looking for it.
Kendrick Lamar is breaking with some of his fellow artists by stating that the promotion of the drug isn’t good because people are dying from using it.
“You may have certain artists portraying these trends and don’t really have that lifestyle and then it gives off the wrong thing. And it becomes kinda corny after a while. It’s really about keeping hip-hop original and pushing away the corniness in it,” Lamar said.
One of Lamar’s lessenlightened colleagues, Trinidad James, says that drug use is OK. He also says that moderation is the key. James’ popular verse “Popped a molly I’m sweating!” became a rallying cry for thousands of young people trying the drug for the first time.
“Honestly man, life is based on moderation. Anything that you do, you have to do it in moderation. People overdo it and it turns into people OD’ing or dying, but it’s all about how extreme you go with it,” James said about Molly usage being celebrated in popular rap. “Some artists have made some of their most incredible music on drugs, so for me to say that drugs are messing up hip-hop, I’m not going to say that. It’s just that some people really believe so much of what we say, and people honestly don’t understand moderation.”
Molly or MDMA is the chemical most commonly used in the drug ecstasy. The drug creates intense feelings of pleasure and relaxation, followed by a crash and intense depression.
“It’s really bad. You don’t want to get up; you don’t want to eat anything. You just sit there. You don’t want to talk to anyone,” said one user, who remained anonymous.
The drug can also lead to death, according to health experts.
“It can kill you, because your body temperature goes up. It can kill you because it causes a seizure. It can kill you because it causes cardiac arrest,” said Dr. Stephen Dewey of the Feinstein Institute.
Dealers are now adding additional chemicals to the drug to increase the intensity of the high and to create more addiction. Having more young people addicted to the drug leads to repeat customers.
