A new study has been done to show the correlation between rap music and illegal drugs. The report was published in the Addiction Research and Theory journal that found that when rap was newer the message in the music was different. Back then rap artists either didn’t talk about drugs or when they did they warned against the dangers. "This study showed that in fact much early rap music either did not talk about drugs at all, or when it did had anti-drug messages," said Denise Herd, of the University of California, Berkeley, who headed the research team. "So intrinsically rap music is not necessarily associated with these themes," she added.
The research team sampled 341 lyrics from rap music's most popular songs between the years 1979 and 1997; the researchers found references to drugs had increased six times over that period! Of the 38 most popular songs between 1979 and 1984, only four contained drug references. But by the late 1980s it had increased to 19 percent and after 1993 nearly 70 percent of rap songs mentioned drug use.
A good example of this is from Grandmaster Flash "White Lines," recorded in 1983, warns cocaine does nothing except "killin' your brain" but more recent tunes by popular rappers such as 50 Cent's "As the World Turns" refers to cocaine and heroin as nice things."This is an alarming trend, as rap artists are role models for the nation's youth, especially in urban areas," Herd said.
Studies have shown rap music is one of the fastest growing genres in American society today and plays a prominent role in youth culture."I think society has some responsibility to give kids some alternatives to the glamorized view of drugs they see in this music," said Herd. "There are solutions that go beyond the family and home and a lot rests with us as an American society in general.