A Genre History of Druggy Rap Music

            The world of druggy rap music has changed wildly over the past 30 years. Covering every type of drug, you could think of and every emotion that drug causes. In the late 80s and early 90s when rap music and hip hop were starting to blend drugs were a sensitive topic. This was in the time where there was zero to no explicit content in music, and explicit content then would be considered childish or silly in modern standards. Drugs that were mentioned in this time were considered bad and was almost a PSA not to go to drugs and love your family. Then the late 90s and the early 2000s came around. This was during the rise of profanity in rap music. The Atlanta style rap music came out and started clashing with the west coast drug rap which was largely gang related. It was all about being more gangster than the next person, how many girls you have, how many guns you own, the crew you represent, and how much drugs you can sell. Looking back at this time, it was when crack cocaine was very prevalent in the low-income communities and so when rappers talked about drugs it was always about selling drugs.  It was very rare to listen to a rap song and hear them talk about how much drug they are doing. It was about their upbringing and how they must sell drugs to make an income. Then came around 2009 to present day. Where drugs are almost mentioned in every song. So much drugs are talked about that I can even make my brand about druggy rap music. Modern drug rap has consumed much of the rap genre; however you can still find artists like the Social Club Misfits, that are vulgar and don’t sing about drugs, yet their music can keep up with today’s rap. Many modern drug rappers have made their career around drugs. Rick Ross for example, used to be one of the largest cocaine king pins in all of New York was on most wanted lists for the amount of drugs his organization pushed. He is now an award-winning rapper who constantly raps about his drug money and the girls and cars he gets with it. Many new and upcoming rappers started out as drug dealers according to their songs, for an example Meek Mill. A small rapper who was in a gang was able to get a record deal and make it to the big leagues. After his record deal, he moved from selling drugs to using them. Most of his songs now talk about how he can afford more drugs than people and is “harder” than them.

            Meek Mill’s debut album Dreams and Nightmares in 2012 was his hardest and his most down to earth drug rap album. This album was released through the rap collective MMG or Maybach Music Group, which was founded by Rick Ross and feature other artists like Wale, Gunplay, and Omarion. The collective and their music tend to be more hardcore and ghetto rap with ear damaging bass.  However, with Meek’s album Dreams and Nightmares, it was complex, not all the songs sounded the same and took his drug use and created a master piece with it. Many of the songs on this album are still played today, blasting at parties and people turning up. During its peak the album was all over the billboard top 100, even having the song “Young & Gettin’ It” sit at number 2 for several weeks. Along with this album hard bass and yelling tone, many of the songs feature artists that are well known in the R&B world like John Legend, Mary J. Blige and Trey Songs. That is part of the album that makes it stand out. When modern age drug was gaining traction many of the songs sounded the same, with a free sample beat and autotune. If you are looking for music that follows under that label, lots of Lil Wayne’s music after 2002 was all autotuned and very little talent. Dreams and Nightmares pulls away from the normal and shows that drugs can be implemented into the songs without bragging that you sell drug and smoke Oz’s of weed daily.

            The release of this album was essential to genre. This album advanced the genre to the next level where drugs songs made it to the main stream population. The mid 2000s the general population was still being desensitized to the prevalence of hard drugs used in music on the radio. Meek raps about the amount of weed and alcohol he is consuming bringing into the light that one can be successful and have their mind altered with substances.

            This album is always going to be one of the best albums in the genre. The mix between real rapping, creative enough that the music can make it to the top of the billboard 100 while still relate and have cribs bumping. Not long after the release of this album drug music took a turn to Future and Migos, where they mumble most of what they say, and people that don’t listen to it normally can’t relate to the music and are more likely to turn it off or change it. If you have not listened to music like Meek Mill’s I highly recommend it. His creative style mixed with head bobbing beats and relatable lyrics makes any listen, take a step back, and try and find out who it was. If you are a fan of Meek Mill or Dream and Nightmares, I would recommend also listening to Rick Ross’ later albums. You could also listen to older Big Sean, his music is extremely similar to Meek Mill, they both came up from the bottom dealing with drugs and now sing about their drug usage and their successes. If I were to give Dreams and Nightmare a grade based on the music I would give it a 7, but a grade given to the importance of the genre I would give it a 8.