Words by Comfort Nnana Kalu
Recently, Jeezy sat down in an interview with Mass Appeal to express his opinions on the spread of opioid use in society, and specifically in Hip-Hop. Jeezy is apprehensive about rappers who glorify dangerous drugs.
He explains his stance by saying, “I got a family member that’s a nurse, just to hear the stories…she might call me, I’m like, ‘You good? [She says] ‘Aw man, we had five kids come in overdosed on this and that, I’m just like, what the f**k? You know what I’m saying? Percocet…I was just like, ‘Wow that’s crazy. In one day, five kids come and die?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, one 13-year-old. ‘That’s crazy to me. But they listening to the music.”
Jeezy also explained that he doesn’t have an issue if that is their choice to use opioids, but he believes Hip-Hop artists should be more aware and have it not be the focal point of their music.
“I can get it if that’s your vice, that’s what you like doing,” he said. “We gon’ respect that. But once your words get out, and you tell the people that this is it and that’s how it is, it’s like I don’t know if I can respect that. Ok, the music is cool but what you stand for though? If I had a conversation with you, you gonna be too doped up to tell me something cool? You gonna be too high to… I can’t follow you to the end of the earth. Like for one, you don’t even know what the fuck you talking about.”
He believes that rappers easily influence children and many of them do not realize how much of an influence they have on kids and the affect they play in the proliferation of opioid usage.
