The Tragedy of the Rap Industry in Chicago
With the loss of more and more young rappers to drugs, there is serious conflict regarding the drug culture and drug usage in the rap industry. Many regions across the United States struggle with this problem as their rappers perish at a very young age, but one particular area that has recently been heavily affected by this issue is Chicago. Chicago gave birth to one of the most successful and talented rappers of our generation, Juice Wrld, who tragically passed away at just 21 years old. Similar to countless other Chicago rappers who have lost their life to drugs, Juice Wrld lost his life to Percocet pills in December of 2019, and people are looking for someone, or something, to point the accusatory finger at. For example, Vic Mensa, another rapper in the industry, thinks that rappers themselves that cultivate this drug-dependent culture are to blame for the loss of Juice Wrld. For decades, rappers have not shied away from rapping about the drugs that they consume on a daily basis, which has raised a new generation of rappers who think it’s cool to live like their idols. Thus, Mensa thinks that every rapper needs to “to take responsibility for the things that [they] say” because the things that they talk about “influence children.” While I do agree that rappers themselves are in a way indirectly killing each other with the things that they preach, I think Mensa is overlooking the greater evil of the music industry; labels.
There are several major labels that run the music industry and sign young, talented artists out of Chicago but simply treat them as another source of income instead of the developing young kid that they really are, and neglect the fact that these kids need guidance. Smiley depicts this by describing how labels “know that when [the artist] is done, the next SoundCloud or Instagram rapper is behind them,” and thus the labels have no motivation to nurture these young rappers, especially if it seems like the rappers are going down a dark path. Thus, even though Juice Wrld had one of the biggest blow ups of the decade, Interscope, his record label, was constantly looking for rappers that could replace Juice Wrld in case he passed away, instead of just helping him. I think that this neglection and lack of guidance provided to Juice Wrld was the ultimate cause of his demise, although him growing up listening to his icons rap about sipping codeine certainly didn’t help either. However, maybe I am putting too much blame on the labels themselves. Some suggest that Juice Wrld’s environment and his life before fame may have been much more influential in determining his final destination than his environment after he blew up.
Chicago is one of the most famous cities in the world, however 1 in every 5 Chicago citizens live below the poverty line. Juice Wrld and his family were certainly 1 of those 5 that lived in poverty, and poverty, especially in urban areas, can create a very unhealthy lifestyle very quickly. Thus, as I’ve established the environment that Juice Wrld was thrown into post-fame was very unhealthy, however, as a result of the impoverished state that he grew up in, he was already living a very unhealthy lifestyle. For example, in “How the US prescription drug epidemic is changing hip-hop,” the author explains how Juice Wrld grew up selling drugs so that he could “put food in his cabinet,” and taking drugs “to escape” from his harsh reality. Thus, once he reached superstardom, and was faced with the evils of the music industry, he took drugs to escape from his problems the same way he did growing up because he was already accustomed to using substance abuse as a way out. I think that this is a very important point to consider, however it does not excuse the behaviour of major labels. Labels are well aware of the fact that these Chicago rappers that they find on the internet most likely come from poverty and a culture of drugs. Thus, they should nurture these rappers instead of using them to the point where they feel the need to escape again. Granted, at the end of the day a label is just a business, and the artist is the one who has to sign the final contract. So maybe it is the rappers fault?
Over the last decade, labels have gotten a very bad rep. Zorka Explains how in the music scene they have become widely notorious for essentially screwing over rappers and ruining their careers. However, year after year, Chicago rappers continue to “sign their life away” to these major labels because they see the big check and get carried away. I understand where Zorka is coming from, but I think she is completely failing to put herself in the rapper’s shoes. Imagine growing up in the streets of Chicago with no parents, having to sell drugs for a living to get by, and essentially being raised by the music in your ears and wanting to make it big like the rappers on your playlist. Then, after years of working on your music, a major label comes knocking at your door and tells you that they’re going to make you a superstar, and offer you a million dollar check. Can you really blame them for signing without looking back? Maybe if these rappers didn’t grow up in an environment where money wasn’t worshipped and seen as the only way out then they would be able to make a smarter, long term decision. But 99% percent of the time, that just isn’t this case, and Chicago is no exception. Thus, it may be easy to say “you should have seen that coming” or “you should have known better,” to Juice Wrld, but it is a whole different story when the deal you’ve been waiting for your whole life is right in front of you.
As a whole, I still hold the idea that Interscope holds great responsibility for the incredibly shocking loss of Juice Wrld. However, I hadn’t considered that where he came from and what sort of environment he was raised in may also have been very influential in creating the path that led to this early death.
Sources:
