Booze, Bitches and Boom Bap Entry #13

Booze, Bitches and Boom Bap
In the hip hop world we are trained to think that excessive drinking is a cool thing. Everyone remembers the Jay Z videos with Dame Dash dancing around smashed pouring liquor on video vixens, the numerous club videos in the VIP with drunken rappers doing performance scenes and who can forget the 40 ounce era when rappers were doing scenes in the local corner store buying a bottle of Ol’ English. We use alcohol to commemorate our deceased comrades by pouring liquor on their graves or street corners. With that being said in hip hop we seldom associate alcohol with negativity. In my reality I believe that a lot of us hip hop heads and artist especially are serious alcoholics. Like I always say, it’s all good to get your drink on but when that drinking becomes a dependency on being able to record songs or videos then that’s a potential problem. Part of my path to being an alcoholic started in the Wu tang days when I was getting into my hustle. I used to think that waking up and grabbing a beer before working the block was a necessity and honestly I got that from watching Boyz in The Hood and Menace to Society, watching Ol’ Dog slam down 40 ounces of malt liquors while doing crazy things. I remember the St. Ides commercial with Wu tang Clan and Snoop Doggy Dogg, to me that was the coolest shit. In the ghettos in the US they were selling 40 ounces for a dollar, but we never had that in Canada. The first time we started getting them in selected stores they were sold for $5 a bottle and my friends and I were tripping over each other to buy them on the strength of hip hop. After a while I didn’t feel complete unless I had a 40 when I was on my hustle. As hip hop’s drinking taste evolved from 40s to hard liquor so did my taste. When hip hop was drinking Alize, I was in the club buying bottles of that sweet syrupy shit. When hip hop started drinking Belvedere and Grey Goose, I was buying $45 bottles of that from the liquor store instead of regular $20 vodka which is just as good or maybe even better. Let’s not even get into the Hennessey because I had way too many crazy nights trying to keep up with my favorite rappers drink of choice. Now we got Louis the 13th ($150 a shot at the bar) and Patron drinkers breaking their bank trying to get drunk while still being up to the times.
All these times helped to cultivate my drinking habit to the point where it became a big problem on my love ones, my pocket and my life in a whole. In hind sight I can’t just blame it on hip hop because no matter what I love hip hop music and culture. I’ve always been a strong believer that we need to listen to our music objectively not subjectively, meaning don’t do something just because we heard it in a song or seen I in a video or movie. If we did that then everyone who loves gangster rap would be out there on a murder spree or selling drugs to drive the hottest cars and drink themselves stupid. The problem is that a lot of us and the new generations of listeners are listening to our music subjectively and trying to keep up with our favorite rappers which essentially digging us early graves.
I’ve stopped drinking completely but I will never stop loving hip hop, I just learned now through my hard times that we can’t do things because our favorite rappers are doing it. We have to make choice based on our own preferences and limits. If ya’ll want to buy something from the bar then don’t kill your pockets trying to buy what Diddy’s buying because he’s a damn millionaire and chances are he’s getting for free anyway. Stay within your means and like I always say don’t over-do it, drink responsibly.
Bless