The Role of Drugs in Class Identity and Cultural Expression

I do believe that the reasons for one’s drug use serves as a marker that places us in a particular class pertaining to identity. Wall Street bankers use drugs to knock the edge off after a long days work or at a conference party with their co-workers, but yet still you have the poorer class of white people who are strung out because of homelessness or some sort of Dis-ease.  Drug use among black urban communities are fundamentally different from the more privileged white collar class in terms of the social functions because most of the Rap artists that showcase drug use within their music are victims of generational trauma. The physical, emotional and mental scars of slavery have taken a tremendous toll on them. Consider a southern Artists like Future who raps about drinking lean as a coping mechanism regarding his upbringing. He oftens raps about the love for his grandparents who raised him after being abandoned by his mother and father due to drug use. He is a noteable artist who was groomed by the great Dungeon Family that consists of Andre 3000, and Ceelo Green. The dysfunction of his family life is being repeated today based on the amount of broken homes he has created. He celebrates the charge of toxic masculinity that the court of public opinion has convicted him of as he raps about Percocet, lean, molly and Xanax bars. Less than a month ago one of his best friends Young Scooter was killed in Atlanta, this is a broken man that will continue to sing his blues to us. Consider the life of Young Dolph who was a rap artist that was killed in 2017 and would often boast about being a rich crack baby because his mother was a crack user while she was pregnant with him. The chances of him surviving his birth was low according to the doctors but he beat the odds and celebrated becoming a millionaire after surviving the mean streets of Memphis. He survived 2 attempts on his life and would be often seen smoking marijuana in his rap videos to cope with his pain, anxiety and paranoia. In black culture the social functions of drug use is expressed as a coping mechanism and also as a flex in regard to having the means to afford designer drugs. We are dying and most of today’s rap songs are a cry for help if you listen closely. Who’s gonna declare a State of Emergency in our black communities?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXXZ3J_QIGw