With the shocking, sudden death of 21-year-old rapper Lil Peep, rap has suddenly found itself having to reevaluate its relationship with drugs and the prevalence it has in the genre’s music as of late. Some have gone on the defensive, like Lil Uzi Vert, explaining why the music has evolved into this current state of opioid-induced slurred rap. Others have taken the genre and its stars to task for glorifying the use of the dangerous drugs and now, another new star is stepping forward to make his voice heard as well: 21 Savage.
While 21 may come off as simplistic on his raps, in interviews he has always been thoughtful and well-spoken, so for those who have been paying attention it should come as no surprise that his reaction to the current state of affairs is much more eloquent than say, his bars on Without Warning with Offset.
“Why do so many of these “OG Rappers” judge the new generation?” 21 said in a note he posted on Twitter. “They say we make drug user music like making drug selling music is better what’s the difference?” 21 goes on to take the older generation to task for their own glorification of drugs, including crack cocaine, saying “Artists been snorting cocaine and soaking crack since the ’70s and ’80s did ya’ll forget that?”
Finally, he offers some advice for the older rappers chastising the new generation: Make a change. “Instead of judging how about ya’ll make a change,” he said in the post. “If the message in the previous generation of rap was so good why did so many of our parents abandon us for crack? Why we still killing each other? Don’t use us as the scapegoat! Our music is a reflection of what’s going on in our community and all we doing is using our talent to escape that community.”
The man has a point, and while he may seem like an unlikely candidate for such poignant analysis of the situation, that’s what makes the entire statement so powerful.
Check out 21’s entire post below.
https://twitter.com/21savage/status/933056041562013697
