Drug glorification became a notable subject in hip hop this past week in light of Lil Peep's passing. While some artists have taken the moment to condemn those who continuously promote drugs in their music as part of their brand, others have spoken up about the why it acts as a prominent factor of their lives. This past week, Pete Rock spoke out about the new generation of rappers (specifically Waka Flocka) lack of actual rapping abilities while also saying the older generation "didn't experiment with pills or syrup or anything synthetic." Waka later responded to Pete Rock's comments saying that it was uncalled for. However, 21 Savage took a moment today to chime in on the conversation.
On a note posted to Twitter, 21 Savage called out the "OG Rappers" that continue to judge the new generation of rappers. While many point the finger to people like 21, who is often seen with a double stacked styrofoam cup and speaks openly about Xanax and Percocets in his music, he says there's much more to the genre right now that people aren't looking at.
"They say we make drug user music like making drug selling music is better[.] what's the difference?" he wrote, "What about the fact that rap is the number one genre of music right now[,] none of y'all acknowledge that."
He went on to point out that the issue of drug glorification isn't restricted to today's hip hop but has been happening since the 70's and 80's when cocaine and crack was a prominent.
"If the message in the previous generation of rap was so good why did so many of our parents abandon us for crack? Why we still killing each other? Don't use us as the scapegoat! Our music is a reflection of what's going on in our community and all we doing is using our talent to escape that community," he wrote.
21 Savage isn't typically vocal about his own personal views but it's interesting to hear his own thoughts on the subject.
What do y'all think? 21 have a point or nah?
