Black History Month: Hip Hop Culture and Cannabis
Photo by Dom Hill
Cannabis history and black history become even more publicly intertwined after the Jazz era. Once the Hip Hop scene established itself in the 90’s and exploded post 2000, cannabis use started to enter into the mainstream. Through black culture and hip hop music, more people became curious about the plant and started trying it out. As the number of people who smoked began increasing throughout the years, it became more destigmatized in the public’s eye. Hip hop music played a foundational role in ushering in the legalization of cannabis.
Cypress Hill
CYPRESS HILL
In 1991 Cypress Hill dropped their debut album, Cypress Hill which was full of weed references, and even popularized the term “blunted.” After this album, hip hop artists everywhere began being more open in their lyrics about their own weed use. Weed became counterculture and the image of a lazy stoner of the 70’s or punk rock stoner of the 80’s began to shift into the hip hop mainstream of the 90’s.
Throughout the 90’s, Cypress Hill continued to make music that included pro-weed lyrics. It was an open secret, people in the hip hop community knew cannabis was being used and that it was harmless, but after the War on Drugs, no one wanted to talk about it. Cypress Hill broke that barrier down.
DR. DRE
A year later Dr. Dre dropped the infamous album, The Chronic. Which shot up in popularity quickly and sold out everywhere. With over 6 million sales, the album title literally became slang for weed. The Chronic has been credited with making a generation shift their perspective of… Chronic. Pot leaf hats became popular and were seen more and more often in clothing and accessories.
Dr Dre
Dr Dre
DR. DRE
A year later Dr. Dre dropped the infamous album, The Chronic. Which shot up in popularity quickly and sold out everywhere. With over 6 million sales, the album title literally became slang for weed. The Chronic has been credited with making a generation shift their perspective of… Chronic. Pot leaf hats became popular and were seen more and more often in clothing and accessories.
Snoop Dogg
SNOOP DOGG
With Dr. Dre came the rise of Snoop Dogg, and took what Cypress Hill had planted, and what Dr. Dre had grown, and he took it even further. Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg together were a powerful force that brought cannabis into suburban homes all across America. With raw lyrics and the hottest beats, Snoop Dogg tapped into young adults and teens everywhere and popularized and continued to destigmatize the plant throughout the span of his career.
By the mid 90’s weed and hip hop were synonymous, and no album was complete without a reference to smoking cannabis. Every big and small name hip hop artist and rapper were singing about weed and everyone listening became curious to try it out.
