Music and drugs often go hand and hand, no genre excluded. However, hip-hop seems to elude to them the most. Drug references in rap lyrics reflect trends in drug culture, and Project Know recently used RapGenius' database to analyze the prevalence of drug-related lyrics among rappers over the past 25 years.
Drugs included in Project Know's study were marijuana, MDMA (molly), cocaine, codeine, alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs, such as Xanax, Adderall and pain killers.
And unsurprisingly, the two rappers with the most drug-laced lyrics were Lil Wayne and Lil B.
Over 22,000 rap songs were included in the study, and you guessed it, marijuana came in first as the drug with the most references though probably the most inconsistent.
Pot was one of the less common drugs in the late 1980s. Use of marijuana went through the roof in the early 1990s, probably with the help of rappers like Snoop Dogg, and again more recently.
The study offers up a pretty reasonable explanation for the growing popularity of cannabis.
"The decriminalization and partial legalization of medical and recreational marijuana in the United States most likely played a part in the growing social acceptance of cannabis," the study says.
Despite its growing popularity, MDMA is among the least mentioned drugs overall in rap music.
Other rappers with the most doped up lyrics included Three 6 Mafia, Eminem, The Roots and G-Unit.
As far as liquor, the study shows that rappers appear to be faithful Hennessy drinkers.
Check out the full study here.
