Hip-Hop and Cannabis: The long-standing relationship that we never want to end

One
might assume, with the amount of references to the delights and virtues of cannabis
in hip-hop music today, that the genre and cannabis has always gone hand-in-hand.
However, that wasn’t always the case. While there is evidence to believe that
some of the first Bronx emcees mention the wonderful plant in some of their
early rhymes, more substantially documented examples of cannabis love in hip-hop
shows up in the mid-1980s, nearly a full decade from the genre’s inception. What’s
perhaps most interesting about this, is both how common cannabis was in places
like the Bronx during hip-hop’s birth, and how intrinsically tied early hip-hop
was to reggae, jazz, soul and funk music, all of which are very
cannabis-friendly genres.

It
wasn’t until songs like Schooly D’s 1985 underground hit, “P.S.K. —What Does It
Mean?” (“Driving in my car down the avenue / towing on a j, sipping on some
brew”) and the Beastie Boys first single, “Hold It Now, Hit It,” from their
1986 debut album, Licensed To Ill, (Miller drinking, chicken eating,
dress so fly / I got friends in high places that are keeping me high) that
positive references to cannabis and cannabis usage began to surface.

Some
artists like Run-DMC, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were talking about
their neighborhoods, and the pressures they faced as young African American men
in the ghetto. Still, most emcees at the time focused on narrative story-telling
and boasting about how much better they were than other DJs and emcees around. However,
beginning in the mid-to-late ‘80s and early ‘90s, raps about love for cannabis
and its positive characteristics became commonplace and accepted into popular
hip-hop culture.

Songs
like Boogie Down Productions’ “Illegal Business” (“One afternoon around eleven
o’clock / It was freezin cold, he was standing on the block / Sellin cheeba,
nick’s and dimes / Sayin a rhyme just to pass the time”) from their 1988 album,
By All Means Necessary, Tone-Loc’s “Cheeba Cheeba” (“When I get to a
party, to get it started / I grab that microphone and rock it cold hearted / Go
behind the curtains while my fans they point / You know what Loc’s doin,’ I’m
blazin’ a joint / Cause it seems a lot of times, I’m at my best / After some
methical or a bowl of sense”), from his 1988 debut, L?c’ed After Dark, or
A Tribe Called Quest’s “Youthful Expression” (“Smokin’
blunts with a boy named Bud / We cough up your lungs, cough
up your cud”) from their 1990 debut, People’s Instinctive Travels And The
Paths Of Rhythm, demonstrate the new trend of casual cannabis references in
lyrics. Whether it was something that was being hustled on the streets,
something that was used to help someone perform, or something you did with your
friends, all aspects of the cannabis culture of the time were being represented
and articulated.

However,
the explosion of cannabis content in the genre is easily traceable to one
particular strain of hip-hop; gangsta rap. With gangsta rap came a focus on
authenticity and realism, no matter how gritty, aggressive, and dark, that
finally gave emcees license to rap about the things they liked and knew, even
if it was far outside of mainstream norms. One of the things that quickly began
garnering lyrical praise within this new breed of MC, was cannabis. Albums like
Dr. Dre’s first solo outing in 1992, The Chronic, Snoop Dogg’s 1993
debut, Doggystyle, Warren G’s first record from 1993, Regulate . . . G
Funk Era, Cypress Hill’s second album from 1993, Black Sunday, and
Ice Cube’s 1992 release, The Predator, were both rife with cannabis
references and praise, and for the first time in a long time, cannabis was back
into the pop cultural lexicon. With the rise in popularity of gangsta rap, and
the social acceptability of those artists, cannabis was no longer a drug
relegated to the hippies of the past, or the goof ball stoners of ‘70s and ‘80s
comedy movies, cannabis was now a cool recreational activity with some of the
most famous people on the planet promoting its goodness. Additionally, not only
was cannabis getting major lyrical representation, but it was becoming
fashionable as well. Artists like Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Cypress Hill,
members of Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, and many others began appearing in photos, music
videos and interviews smoking joints, ripping water pipes, or flashing gigantic
bags brimming with sumptuous reefer, and also started including cannabis leaves
into their artwork and brand imagery.

Since
that period, which cemented cannabis as the drug of choice of the hip-hop
community, cannabis has only continued to rise in its acceptance in mainstream
society. With rappers, many of whom built their careers on mountains of green
buds, becoming some of the most wealthy and influential businessmen and
entrepreneurs both nationally and internationally, as well as a sitting president
who went on record saying, “When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was
the point,” there is little doubt that our society’s views on cannabis, and
cannabis culture, have swayed significantly. With that in mind, it can probably
be said that we have hip-hop to thank for not just making cannabis cool again,
but allowing it to show successful, ambitious people using it with none of the
negative effects that had previously been associated with it.