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Rap Music Least Likely to Contain Drug References Compared to other Genres

rap music drugs

Credit: Addictions.com

A surprising study shows that rap music is actually the least likely of all genres to have lyrics containing references to drugs. This goes against what many had mistakenly assumed about this type of music and also sheds light on the drug reference content in other songs and formats. Researchers have discovered that country music actually contains more references to drugs and drug using than any other type of music.

However, the study shows that the lack of drug references in rap is a new phenomenon. After hitting a peak of drug-laden rhymes near the turn of the century, hip hop artists are now more likely to focus on other aspects of life.

“It’s incredibly telling if you look at music history, the 60s is when drugs started being mentioned more and more in the media. But there’s clearly some surprising new information here. We did this study to raise awareness about how drug references in music may interact with addiction, and to alert people in case they want to avoid hearing about drugs in their everyday music,” explained Logan Freedman, one of the researchers on the study.

In addition to researching the type of music that contains drug references, the researchers also wanted to pinpoint what artists tend to cite drugs in their music. They found that Tyga tops the list when it comes to mentioning ecstasy (72 references). Queens of The Stone Age comes in third, mostly due to their song, “Feel Good Hit of the Summer” which has a repeating phrase of “Nicotine, valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol”.

Marijuana is the most talked about drug in music, followed by cocaine, acid, pills, meth, heroin and ecstasy. What wasn’t studied was the impact that drug use in music can have on overall use. It appears that teenagers would be most susceptible to the influence, as they are in other life situations as well.