Songs about sobriety: from hardcore to hip-hop
In 2006, after the death of a friend, he began abusing Vicodin, one of the most dispensed prescription painkillers in the United States. During this time, he also began misusing Xanax and other sedative medications. This synthetic drug contains mood-altering properties that produce feelings of pleasure, warmth and energy. Also https://www.mohsinca.com/2024/12/26/alcohol-allergies-symptoms-signs-and-treatment-for-3/ known as molly and MDMA, the drug often shows up at nightclubs and concerts. Despite its health risks, marijuana continues to be championed by rappers today.
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She joined the 27 Club, a group of musicians, singers, and other celebrities who died at the age of 27, often due to substance abuse or related causes. Usually, trips on the road would be fueled by benders, as he would cyclically drink to calm his performance anxiety. „You want to have a drink to kill your nerves and be able to go out and have fun,“ he says.
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Pharrell once ate six weed brownies and passed out in a bathroom, as he recalled in a 2013 interview with Nardwuar. When Cole repeats the phrase “made it out, it gotta mean something,” it’s as if he’s carrying the weight of his city’s deferred dreams. Much like the athletes whom he seeks to emulate, Cole becomes a vicarious bearer of hope. This is the theme of Cole’s new record, K.O.D. — namely, the pain that makes people escape into drugs, alcohol, money, sex, social media and other vices. Cole’s biggest escape these days is his work, and during the week in late March that I visit him, he is shooting two music videos.
- „He was incredulous that he’d never noticed,“ Curtis said, adding that she’s been sober ever since.
- The Valley star shared his decades-long battle with drugs in March 2025 after going to rehab.
- Emerging talents, including those who might be the biggest rapper in the world soon, are redefining rappers that do drugs the genre with their unique styles.
- Rappers often struggle with a variety of drugs, including opioids, Xanax, cocaine, and codeine.
- It’s fair to say that the genre has a close association with drugs and alcohol.
- “I have a problem with my vices,” said the pop star, I’ve kicked the drugs, but every now and then I have to go out and get completely wasted on alcohol.
Rappers Who Addressed Their Addictions
Pharrell intended the drink “to celebrate the beautiful, independent, and sophisticated women of today.” He later entered a legal battle against Diageo, who, he claimed, promoted it as a “club drink,” which was not his intention. He is celebrated as one of the most innovative hip-hop artists of our generation. Tyler also revealed that he has tried weed twice, and Twelve-step program that was more than enough for him to be convinced that he will never try it again.
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In his younger years, Eminem had a serious pill-popping addiction, something which is generally well-known if you’re a fan of the MC. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he confessed that he’d be taking up to 60 Valium and 30 Vicodin pills per day during the peak of his addiction. „The deeper I got into my addiction, the tighter the lid got on my creativity,“ Eminem told New York Times in 2009. Multi-talented Pharrell Williams chooses to abstain from drug use. „Everybody else can do what they want, but that stuff isn’t for me. I’ve been drunk nine times in my life, and I ate some weed brownies once,“ he told Paper Magazine.
In 2007, the rapper almost died due to an accidental methadone overdose. Eminem’s battle with addiction is documented in some of the rapper’s albums. Relapse and Recovery, in particular, are two concept albums that detail the rapper’s relapse and recovery from drug addiction.


„I was just numb. You told me that I was doing good or told me I was doing bad, you hated me or loved me, either which way I greeted with nonchalance. It was sincere nonchalance — like, I really didn’t care.“ Despite being connected to the mainstream party culture, Common parties clean. Andre 3000 may experiment with bow ties and suspenders, but he doesn’t toy with drugs.
The Long Beach, California rapper’s decision to stay sober stems from the traumatic events he witnessed during his childhood. In an appearance on Drink Champs, Vince expressed that he never wanted to get caught with drugs and always wanted to stay alert when growing up in sober rappers an area filled with gang violence. Additionally, he elaborated that his father was addicted to drugs and did not want to follow the same path. Let’s jump in and find out about the sober rappers who are shunning drugs and liquor today.
- Cole takes a break from conceptualizing his friends’ lives and careers to allow insight into his own upbringing and family—finds him admonishing his mother for drinking during her husband’s infidelity.
- As he later explained on Today, he grew up in the ’60s and ’70s when „there was a completely different attitude“ towards the drug.
- For National Sobriety Day on Sept. 14, we take a look at 37 Rock Artists Who Have Achieved Recovery and have spoken about their journey to get there.
- And others abstain simply so that they can function at the highest level.
- This section explores the factors that can lead to substance abuse and the challenges these individuals encounter when seeking help.
This seems to be the overarching message in an exclusive new interview he gave to longtime hip-hop writer Paul Cantor, published in Vulture. Morale & The Big Steppers.’ The song dives into a soft spot from Kendrick’s upbringing where sexual assault was an endemic disease and how it affected everyone around him and himself. The intensely personal song finds Lamar detailing his trauma from his mother being sexually abused when he was a child and the deep guilt he struggles with for having cheated on his fiancée, Whitney Alford.
For every theory Cole expounds, his own logic becomes more and more inflated, contradictive, and sorely mistaken for genuine wisdom. The finger-wagging judgment on “Once an Addict”—one of the only songs where J. Cole takes a break from conceptualizing his friends’ lives and careers to allow insight into his own upbringing and family—finds him admonishing his mother for drinking during her husband’s infidelity.
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Sober Speak is a recovery-focused podcast and online community dedicated to sharing people’s experiences, strengths, and hope in long-term sobriety and early recovery. Neil Young wrote about this song, “I am not a preacher, but drugs killed a lot of great men.” The song is a melodic dirge lamenting deaths caused by heroin overdoses that haunt with its words. Young described this as “a little song,” but it has become an anthem about drug fatalities, more specifically as a result of heroin addiction. He has released several songs about the negative aspects of drug abuse and has even challenged the prescription drug industry on their role in the drug addiction trend.
Some drank, some used drugs, some did more or less everything, and they did so to very different degrees. Some found themselves at the edge of the precipice, or worse; others simply re-routed from a path or trajectory that they came to see as unwise. Some were clean before the end of their teenage years; some only surfaced into sobriety much later in their lives.