The combination of hip-hop and drugs is nothing new. Old school
pioneers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five rapped about cocaine on
their hit "White Lines"; Cypress Hill made a career out of being
pro-marijuana; Redman and Method Man made a movie about their passion
for weed; and Snoop Dogg seems to be in a perpetual state of highness.
There is however, another drug connected to the hip-hop community:
"Purple Drank" aka "Lean" or "Sizzurp", prescription-strength cough
syrup containing codeine and promethazine. The drug has been popular
for years in the South, but has recently become an issue in the wake of
Houston
rapper Pimp C's death, which was determined to be an accidental overdose due to his use of the syrup.
Now, everyone is hollering at Lil' Wayne
to quit sippin' before he's the next to go. Wayne's family and friends
have been urging him to stop, but he feels it's his own personal
business. Some Global Grind users agree, like meezblack17 who states
that Wayne is "a grown ass man...all you can do is give ‘em some
advice," yet others give a warning to all: "Stay away from tha WET...!"
says Global Grind user Mebe.
Weezy's
never hidden his addiction, openly drinking from his Styrofoam cup and
making references to the purple stuff in numerous songs, but has his
habit gone too far? Or is the whole subject hypocritical? After all, no
one has ever told the other 99.9% of rappers who smoke trees, to put
down the blunt...but maybe they should.
Hip-hop has always been
about self expression, letting people know what you're about and what
you're into, but when does someone cross the line from confessing a
drug addiction, to promoting drug use? I wonder how many people got
hooked on something because their favorite rapper said it was cool?
by Kareem Wright