People have always smoked marijuana, for one reason or
another. Some people justifiable
reasoning was religious/spiritual or medicinal, others used the
drug-induced
state to escape, some indulged to make stupidity seem gut busting
hilarious, if
not genius, while others just geeked and got the munchies.
I’m from the red light, beaded sectional
dividers, burnt incense, wicker chair, top paper era. So,
you know I know. I came of age during a time
when you
were more likely to smell someone smoking marijuana than actually seeing
someone
smoke marijuana. And in many cases,
that was only if you could differentiate the scent of hemp from
frankincense.
The first rap group that I recall hearing
mentioning
marijuana in a rhyme was (my favorite group) Run-DMC. In
the song, Here We Go, Run said, “I
keep a bag of cheeba inside my locker.”
During that time, though many people were indulging in the
activity, some
even using harsher drugs than weed, the mention of it in their music was
sporadic and limited, hardly non-existent.
And we definitely didn’t see video footage of hip hop artists
intentionally or unbeknownst to them, caught in the act.
Fast forward a few years in the music,
the early nineties and beyond, damn near everybody is getting high in
the booth
or on video. Now, I’m not Nancy
Reagan, no resemblance at all. I’m
more like Barack Obama, or dare I say, Bill Clinton. So,
if ever questioned by the
gatekeepers to an opportunity in politics or a government appointed job,
my
answer is either, “I was in college” or “I didn’t inhale.”
Speaking of college, Dr. Dre dropped the Chronic while I
was there. By no means would I ever
suggest that Dr. Dre influenced anyone that I know, to smoke weed
“without
inhaling, while in college,” but I will say, it seems to me, that ever
since Dr.
Dre first released his album entitled the Chronic, that weed references
in rap
music and the public acceptance and participation in the community
escalated to
an all time high (pun intended).
That’s a hell of an unsubstantiated claim to make, but for some
reason,
it seems so true to say, so for the purpose of this piece, I’m sticking
with
it. Segue.
Eighteen years after the Chronic and I am
watching an old
interview from 2009 of Soulja Boy and he is being questioned about his
marijuana
usage. I don’t know what I expected
the young man to say, as I watched the screen with a quizzical look on
my face
when he insinuated that he smokes weed to help keep him grounded/sane
because
it’s difficult being so young, successful and wealthy. To
be exact, his words were, “I got to
keep my mind right, or I’ll have a nervous breakdown.”
Well, besides the fact that Soulja Boy is still a
boy,
albeit a very influential one, whom many youth aspire to be like, that’s
not
what I’m addressing in this edito
rial, though I do think the issue of
teenage
substance abuse is very serious and need to be discussed and dealt with
accordingly. However, for this particular article, I’m interested in
knowing
when did getting high ever help keep the “mind right”? Now,
I know addicts and recovering
addicts who abused all different types of drugs, and of those that I
know,
there’s not one who’d say that they were in a better mind state when
they were
high. Quite contrary they’d say, “I
stayed high because I could not deal with my reality.” And
that’s exactly what I deduced from
Soulja Boy words, even though his reality (from the outside looking in)
appears
to be one that so many people would trade theirs for in a heartbeat. Admittedly, I
don’t know what the young
man is dealing with, I can only imagine:
people asking for handouts, newfound relatives who need initial
start up
money to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams, pressures from record
labels and
executives, pressure from the public, expectations as a “role model” to
the
youth and he’s a child himself, hating homeboys, hating homegirls,
people he
never met hating on him and everything else you can imagine. Whatever the issues are, they must be so
serious that he’d rather get high and avoid them, than to address them. Or maybe he’d like to address them, but
he just doesn’t know how to. Either
way, when I viewed that very short video footage and heard his comments,
I felt
sad for him.
I
never purchased a Soulja Boy album, nor am I part of his targeted
demographic
buying audience, though I can relate to that song about him “hopping out
of bed
and turning his swagger on.” I do
that every morning. Did I just
publicly admit to liking a Soulja Boy song and that I “turn my swagger
on”? Nevertheless, I respect the young man
for putting himself on and I’d like to continue to see him grow and
develop as
an artist and a person, in the public eye.
But I know that his growth will be impeded and his success will
suffer,
if he continues smoking weed to “keep his sanity.” There
are countless examples to support
what I’m saying; I wonder who his example is to show
otherwise.
