Answer Addiction

Tag: rappers & addiction

  • Machine Gun Kelly Wants To Be Happy Without Drugs, Alcohol

    Machine Gun Kelly Wants To Be Happy Without Drugs, Alcohol

    “I want to wake up and know what mood I’m going to be in,” the rapper wrote in a recent Twitter post.

    Machine Gun Kelly is on to the next chapter. The Cleveland rapper announced on Twitter that he’s “determined” to be happy, substance-free.

    “I want to become happy without the help of pills, drink, or drugs one day,” he wrote. “I want to wake up and know what mood I’m going to be in.”

    The rapper and actor, born Colson Baker, said he was inspired by the love he received during his Hotel Diablo tour, which ended with a final performance in Moscow, Russia on Sunday (Sept. 22). MGK will continue to perform in the States up until November 18, according to his official website.

    “Fans gave me so much love this tour it made me want to become a happier person. I’m determined to do it. Thank you, I love you,” he wrote.

    He also tweeted on the same day, “Just finished the last show of the best tour of my life. I’m just sad it’s over… I’ve felt broken inside for a while, this helped fix me.”

    Heroin Addiction

    MGK’s history of drug and alcohol use is no secret. His music has chronicled his battles with heroin and suicidal thoughts. The vulnerability of his work cemented his fan base, who connected with the rapper through his music.

    Weed is often referenced in his interviews, but the rapper, a father to a young daughter, has calmed down considerably from using harder drugs.

    This past July, the 29-year-old recalled in a GQ interview how he would snort painkillers, which he said he would “never recommend” to anyone.

    When asked which drug he would never do again, he replied, “Opana. It’s like heroin. We snorted it. It was so dark. I’d never recommend it to anybody,” he said. “One: it’s absolutely addictive. Two: to be addicted and to want that feeling over and over again… I’m not a person who goes down and then has a rush of positivity to bring themselves back up. I’m the type of person who likes to listen to sad music when I’m sad. I love to wallow and just sink and sink, so that’s why I’ll never touch that one again.”

    Fans Show Support

    His fans on Twitter responded to his recent post with overwhelming positivity. “Somehow I have been able to do this and I was one of the worst alcoholics I’ve ever seen in my life. You [definitely] can do this my dude. Surround yourself with positive people willing to accomplish the same goal,” one follower replied.

    “You got that strength within you. You’ve survived nearly dying numerous times, you have that power to be happily sober and you have a huge crowd of people to help support you with that,” wrote another.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Dave East: I Quit Xanax Because I “Couldn’t Get It Up”

    Dave East: I Quit Xanax Because I “Couldn’t Get It Up”

    The rapper was not about to compromise his sex life for Xanax.

    An interview with Dave East with Bootleg Kev on Real 92.3 took a very personal turn when the rapper revealed why he no longer messes with Xanax.

    “So what made me stop using ‘em—I’m gonna keep it real hundred—what really got me off them drugs, I couldn’t get up,” he said in the interview. “You know, that’s a muscle relaxant!”

    According to his cautionary tale, a night of passion was cut short when East found that his friend downstairs couldn’t seem to bone up.

    “It happened like twice… I told her what it was, I was like ‘yo, I took this pill, I’m fucked, this ain’t me’” he recounted, embarrassed but unbowed. “The girl was like ‘Me, am I doing something wrong?’”

    He says he reassured her that his impotence wasn’t because of her or himself, but due to chemical interference. “‘No, you doin’ everything right, it’s just I’m on something,’ and ‘You know, Call me tomorrow… this might wear off,’” he recalled saying.

    The experience was enough to get East to quit Xanax entirely as performance is important to East and his lifestyle.

    “I gotta be at attention, bro,” he said emphatically. “Ain’t no way i’m gonna be on something and can’t be ON something.”

    Other Stars

    East isn’t the only name in hip hop to turn his back on Xanax. Even Lil Xan is sober and trying to get his fans away from Xanax despite the drug being his namesake.

    “My whole movement is getting kids off of Xanax,” said Lil Xan in an interview. “That’s what we’re trying to do. I make it very clear on all social media aspects and the people know now. We’re going to keep pushing that until it’s in your face and you can’t ignore it.”

    This sentiment has made it into his music as well.

    “Xans don’t make you, Xans gon’ take you, Xans gon’ fake you, Xans gon’ betray you,” goes the chorus of Lil Xan’s track “Betrayed.”

    Celebrities of all stripes have felt the negative touch of Xanax.

    Kelly Osbourne, now sober, recalled the old days of battling anxiety with tons of different meds. Justin Bieber recalls his own Xanax abuse getting “pretty dark,” telling stories of when his own security team had to check his pulse and see if he was still breathing.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Lil Xan Relapsed, Still Focused On Sobriety

    Lil Xan Relapsed, Still Focused On Sobriety

    “I’ve been feeling like death from withdrawals but I know once I’m sober I’ll feel amazing,” the rapper said in an Instagram post to fans.

    Rapper Lil Xan recently relapsed, but he maintains focused on long-term sobriety, he told followers in an Instagram post. 

    “I love you guys so much, wanted to let you guys know I’m tapering off the last bit of norcos I’ve been addicted to, you can get better I promise, there’s no shame in relapsing it happens to anyone who goes through these issues,” he wrote. “I’ve been feeling like death from withdrawals but I know once I’m sober I’ll feel amazing, I love you guys to death and I’m forever grateful for my fans who have supported me through everything, and I thank my haters for teaching me that negativity on social media doesn’t matter at fucking all haha.”

    The Soundcloud Rapper Went To Rehab Last December

    In December, the rapper announced that he was going to rehab. The month before he had spoken with TMZ about how the deaths of other prominent music celebrities had frightened him and made him face his own addictions. 

    “As far as my sobriety goes right now, there was a long period of time where I was clean,” he said at the time. “But I relapsed. . . . Any other addict would understand that that s—t just happens. You just relapse — you don’t want to — and then you get clean again. It’s like a process. You need treatment and help and sometimes that doesn’t even help. It has to come from within. That’s what I’ve learned.”

    Mac Miller’s Death Changed His Perception On Drug Use

    Lil Xan — whose rap name is short for Xanax — said that fentanyl and Mac Miller’s death had changed how he saw drug use. 

    “I was selling Xanax before I was a rapper, you know, when it was real,” he said last November. “And the minute it got to fentanyl, I was like, ‘I’m not going to sell this.’ My friends were taking it, they were puking. I was like, ‘I can’t… I’m out of the game.’”

    Despite that, the rapper’s drug use and legal troubles seem to have continued. In June, Lil Xan reportedly pulled a gun on a man at a gas station in Los Angeles. The man had approached Lil Xan because the rapper previously called Tupac “boring,” and a “little bitch.” A video of the incident was posted on Instagram. 

    According to Complex, Lil Xan insisted that he pulled the gun in self-defense. 

    “I was about to be attacked and resorted to having to use self-defense,” he said. “Fuck all you old head ass bitches still talking bout that 2Pac shit. Live your own life and stop picking on a kid.”

    However, the LA Police Department is investigating the incident and said that the rapper’s actions could constitute felony assault with a deadly weapon. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Eminem Celebrates 11 Years Of Sobriety

    Eminem Celebrates 11 Years Of Sobriety

    The iconic rapper took to social media to celebrate his sober milestone.

    Hip-hop superstar Eminem marked a milestone of sobriety on Instagram with an image of a medallion and the tag “11 years-still not afraid.”

    The rap veteran has spoken in depth about his struggle with and recovery from a dependency on prescription medications, which he described in 2013 as “dark times… mostly due to taking a lot of pills and f—king drooling on myself.”

    Since then, he has rebounded both personally and professionally, as evidenced by the reception for his most recent album, 2018’s Kamikaze, achieving the highest U.S. sales for a hip-hop album and ninth best-selling album globally for that year.

    Eminem told Rolling Stone in 2011 that his dependencies on Vicodin, Ambien and Xanax began while he was filming the semi-autobiographical, Oscar-winning 8 Mile in 2002.

    “We were doing 16 hours on the set, and you had a certain window where you had to sleep,” he recalled. Ambien “knocked [him] the f—k out,” which led to a prescription and constant use combined with the opioid painkiller Vicodin.

    “I was taking so many pills that I wasn’t even taking them to get high anymore,” he told Rolling Stone. “I was taking them to feel normal. I want to say that in a day I could consume anywhere from 40 to 60 Valium. And Vicodin… maybe 20, 30?”

    In 2007, Eminem tried methadone, which he was told was “just like Vicodin, and they’re easier on your liver.” He soon began consuming large quantities of that drug as well. “My doctor told me the amount of methadone I’d taken was equivalent to shooting up four bags of heroin,” he told People in 2009.

    In late December of that year, Eminem suffered a catastrophic overdose that left him unconscious for two days. 

    But after only a week in the hospital, Eminem returned home, where weakness and exhaustion led to a torn meniscus, which in turn led to a relapse, seizure and a return to the hospital. “That’s when I knew,” he recalled. “I could either get help, or I am going to die.”

    With the aid of a rehab counselor, a rigid exercise schedule and the support of friends and fellow addicts like Elton John, whom Eminem described as “like my sponsor,” he gained sobriety and in 2018, celebrated a decade of clean and sober living. 

    The experience has given Eminem perspective on the addictions that have run throughout his family – his ex-wife, Kim Mathers, was involved in a 2015 DUI, and her sister, Dawn Marie Scott, succumbed to a heroin overdose in 2016 – and his career, which remains both prolific and successful.

    “Rap was my drug,” he told People. “It used to get me high, and then it stopped getting me high. Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that… now rap’s getting me high again.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Gucci Mane Says Prison Saved His Life from Drugs

    Gucci Mane Says Prison Saved His Life from Drugs

    Gucci Mane says that being put away helped him clear his head and beat drug addiction.

    When Gucci Mane was put in jail five years ago on charges of firearm possession as a felon, he took that time to get his head on straight and get clean from drugs. 

    “I think I would have been dead, probably,”  he said on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 radio podcast.

    Though he’s committed to staying sober and free of drug use, he knows the world isn’t getting clean any time soon.

    “It’s never gonna go nowhere,” he said in the podcast interview. “It’s going to always be like that. Drugs gonna always be a part of society. It’s going [to] always be people fighting. It’s going to always be death. It’s just, you know, just what it is. It’s always going to be a part of music. Think about all these rock n roll stars before these hip-hop stars.”

    The rapper has always been open about and proud of his sobriety. When he was released from his three-year prison sentence in mid-2016, he decided to clean up his act in more ways than one: He was done with being a repeat offender and he was done with drugs. The album he released then, Everybody Looking, was the first music he made sober.

    “I felt like I couldn’t make music sober, I couldn’t enjoy my money sober. Why would I wanna go to a club and couldn’t smoke or drink? I felt like sex wouldn’t be good sober. I associated everything with being high,” he told The New York Times in an interview then. “In hindsight I see it for what it was: I was a drug addict.”

    He committed himself to sobriety to keep himself healthy and out of trouble.

    “To ensure that I don’t come back into this prison, I’m just gonna be totally sober,” he revealed on an ESPN interview. “I don’t have any time to make any more mistakes. I want to jump every hurdle that’s in front of me. And it takes me [having] a clearer mind. I know my weaknesses. And being sober, it’s like a big strength for me.”

    Gucci Mane just released his newest album, Evil Genius, on Friday. His Glacier Boyz project, on which he is collaborating with Lil Yachty and Migos, is set to release this coming spring.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Rapper Lil Xan Checks into Rehab

    Rapper Lil Xan Checks into Rehab

    Lil Xan had announced in November that he intended to enter rehab but he had issues finding a bed in a treatment facility.

    Lil Xan has gone to rehab for the first time, according to an Instagram post penned by his girlfriend. Lil Xan, or Diego Leanos, is a 22-year-old rapper from the west coast with a big following. Since the recent overdose deaths of Mac Miller and Lil Peep – both idols of Lil Xan – those around Xan had heightened concerns about his safety.

    Lil Xan recently got tattoos memorializing Mac Miller, and CNN reported that Xan said in an interview that Miller’s death made him want to quit music.

    Lil Xan entered rehab hoping this would be a new start to his life; he declared his rap moniker would be changed from Xan, which is short for Xanax, to his actual name, Diego.

    Diego had announced in November that he intended to enter rehab, but had issues finding a bed in a treatment facility. On December 2, Diego’s girlfriend Annie wrote on his Instagram:

    “This sweet angel of mine officially entered rehab this morning. I’m sorry for all the confusion circulating about Diego leaving for rehab,” Smith wrote alongside a photo of Diego. “It’s a tricky thing since people are coming in and out of the facility so often that rooms end up getting switched around and dates can be pushed back. I’m so beyond proud of this precious boy for being the strongest person I know and for wanting to live a better life. Please keep him in your prayers, he is doing his best right now to find peace with himself. We love you all so much, and we appreciate all of the support. I love him beyond words and cannot wait to see what the future holds for our family. xanarchy family – love, Annie”

    A later Instagram post, also by Annie, read, “Diego was just admitted into his first treatment. He loves each and every one of you sending good wishes and prayers to him,” she captioned a selfie of the musician. “We thank you all so very much for all of the love and support you are sending his way. He will be back soon, with another top 10 album we love you all xanarchy family ! – love, Annie”

    Diego has been public about his ongoing struggle with opioid addiction. In November he told TMZ, “As far as my sobriety goes right now, there was a long period of time where I was clean. But I relapsed. . . . Any other addict would understand that that s—t just happens. You just relapse — you don’t want to — and then you get clean again. It’s like a process. You need treatment and help and sometimes that doesn’t even help. It has to come from within. That’s what I’ve learned.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Lil Xan On Mac Miller's Death, His Own Sobriety: "I'm Not Completely Clean Yet"

    Lil Xan On Mac Miller's Death, His Own Sobriety: "I'm Not Completely Clean Yet"

    “You relapse. You don’t want to. You get clean again. And you relapse. It’s a process. You need treatment, and sometimes, that doesn’t even help.”

    Hip-hop artist Lil Xan spoke candidly about the overdose death of his idol, rapper Mac Miller, and his own struggles with substance use, including a recent relapse.

    In a conversation with TMZ on Nov. 5, Lil Xan (born Diego Leanos) said that while he wasn’t surprised that fentanyl played a role in his fellow artist’s demise, he remains devastated by the news.

    “It’s always fentanyl,” Leanos told TMZ in regard to Miller’s death on Sept. 7, 2018. He said that the synthetic opioid was among the primary reasons that he stopped dealing pills prior to his music career.

    “I was selling Xanax before I was a rapper, you know, when it was real,” he said. “And the minute it got to fentanyl, I was like, ‘I’m not going to sell this.’ My friends were taking it, they were puking. I was like, ‘I can’t… I’m out of the game.’”

    In regard to Miller’s death, Leanos told TMZ, “There’s been so many people [who died from fentanyl overdose], but in particular, Mac hurt the most, because it definitely changed my everything.”

    Leanos had been left so devastated by Miller’s death that in September, he considered retiring from music after fulfilling his recording contract. “When your hero dies, f—k that s—t,” he declared during a podcast interview. “I don’t want to make music no more.” 

    Most recently, Leanos has been recording a tribute album to Miller called Be Safe, which is reportedly due in December. He canceled a quintet of live appearances to focus his energy on completing the project, but added that he was also working on his sobriety.

    “I’m not completely clean yet,” he told TMZ. “I’m off Xanax, but narcos I’m still trying to wean off. ” 

    Leanos said that following his recent relapse, he sequestered himself in a forest and “detached from the world” to regain his sobriety. In regard to the relapse, he said, “Any addict would understand that s—t happens. You relapse. You don’t want to. You get clean again. And you relapse. It’s a process. You need treatment, and sometimes, that doesn’t even help.”

    Change, said Leanos, can only come when the individual wants it. “It has to come from within,” he said. “I’ve gone through periods of like, six months. And now it’s because of me. It’s because I want to be clean.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • French Montana Says He Could Have Saved Mac Miller From Addiction

    French Montana Says He Could Have Saved Mac Miller From Addiction

    “If I was around him a couple more nights, I would have made him stop … but he didn’t have nobody that was doing that.”

    Hip hop artist French Montana said that he could have stopped rapper Mac Miller’s overdose death by talking to his friend about the way that his drug use was getting out of control. 

    Speaking on BET’s Raq Rants, Montana said that Miller “was doing the same thing every other artist was doing out there.”

    He suggested that if Miller had someone to give him a reality check — or some tough love — the outcome might have been different. 

    “If you’ve seen the video that me and him did, I’m like, ‘Yo, bro, you’re overdoing it.’ But that was him way before,” he said. “Sometimes if people don’t have people that keep them grounded, it can go left. I just feel like they let him get away with whatever he chooses to do.”

    Montana went so far as to say that he could have stopped Miller from abusing drugs and alcohol. 

    “I feel like I have people that, if I do something like that, how I was to him like a big brother, like, ‘Bro, you’re bugging out.’ … He ain’t have that around him,” Montana said. “Because if I did it that night, if I was around him a couple more nights, I would have made him stop … but he didn’t have nobody that was doing that.”

    While Montana might want to believe that he could have helped his friend, anyone with up close experience with addiction knows that facilitating recovery isn’t as easy as just telling someone to snap out of it. 

    “Substances are incredibly powerful and rewarding,” Kevin Gilliland, a clinical psychologist and executive director of Innovation360 Dallas, told Yahoo Lifestyle. “It’s not as simple as someone saying, ‘You need to stop.’”

    Gilliland said that Montana is hinting at some important ways to help people who are dealing with addiction — including keeping them grounded. 

    “That is often a hugely important piece of helping someone fight addiction, it doesn’t always work,” Gilliland said. “One of the most powerful things I’ve seen for someone getting help for an addiction is having meaningful, significant relationships.” 

    Talking to someone about their substance abuse and letting them know that you are concerned is a good idea, he added. However, friends and family members have to realize that this doesn’t always work, and that it could make their loved one angry. 

    “They will get angry and defensive, but you have to talk to them,” Gilliland said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Mac Miller’s Official Cause Of Death Revealed

    Mac Miller’s Official Cause Of Death Revealed

    The 28-year-old rapper passed away in early August.

    A coroner has confirmed Mac Miller’s cause of death. The 26-year-old rapper and music producer (born Malcolm McCormick) died at home in Studio City, California on Sept. 7. Given his history of substance use, early reports pointed to drugs.

    On Monday (Nov. 7), the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed that McCormick had died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol due to mixed drug toxicity.

    The rapper, who had a tour planned for October following the Aug. 3rd release of his album Swimming, was discovered by his personal assistant in his bedroom. McCormick “struggles with sobriety and when he ‘slips’ he consumes them in excess,” his assistant said, adding that he’d had “several recent ‘slips’” including one three days prior to his death.

    In a 2015 interview with Billboard, the rapper said he was in a good place. “I’m not doing as many drugs. It just eats at your mind, doing drugs every single day, every second. It’s rough on your body,” he said.

    Fentanyl, the synthetic opioid painkiller said to be 50 times stronger than heroin, has also been cited in the deaths of Prince (April 2016) and Tom Petty (October 2017). According to the National Center on Health Statistics, fentanyl was involved in 60% of opioid-related deaths in 2017, an 11% increase from five years prior.

    While fentanyl was created for cancer pain, it is now fueling rising rates of drug overdose deaths. This has prompted the need for a stronger opioid overdose “antidote” to match the strength of increasingly potent fentanyl analogs.

    And this month, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new, more powerful opioid painkiller called Dsuvia. This new drug is said to be 10 times stronger than fentanyl and 1,000 times stronger than morphine.

    While Dsuvia is intended for restricted use only in health care settings—the FDA promised to place “very tight restrictions” on the drug—critics worry that it will only worsen the opioid crisis.

    “We have worked very diligently over the last three or four years to try to improve the public health, to reduce the number of potent opioids on the street,” said Dr. Raeford Brown, who chairs the FDA advisory committee that voted to approve Dsuvia, despite his opposition. “I don’t think this is going to help us in any way.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ariana Grande’s Brother: Mac Miller Helped Me Get Sober

    Ariana Grande’s Brother: Mac Miller Helped Me Get Sober

    “He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking.”

    Frankie Grande paid tribute to Mac Miller in an Instagram post, stating it was thanks to the late rapper that Grande got sober.

    “I am beyond heartbroken over Malcolm’s death. He was a good friend and was wonderful to my sister,” Grande posed, referring to the relationship his sister, Ariana Grande, and Miller shared. “He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking, when I couldn’t imagine living without them. It was the place where I found the community of support that showed me that living life without drugs was a possibility and I would have never discovered that if it weren’t for Malcolm.”

    Grande went on to recount all the times Miller showed up to support Grande’s sobriety milestones before calling for sympathy for those who suffer from substance abuse disorders.

    “I am beyond heartbroken over Malcolm’s death. He was a good friend and was wonderful to my sister,” Grande wrote in the caption. “He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking, when I couldn’t imagine living without them. It was the place where I found the community of support that showed me that living life without drugs was a possibility and I would have never discovered that if it weren’t for Malcolm.”

    Grande recounted all of the times Miller showed up to celebrate his sobriety milestones, treating him with gifts and “words of encouragement.”

    “Addiction is a TERRIBLE disease… many people are suffering from addiction like I am and many many of them are losing,” he  wrote. “Those of us who are struggling with addiction must stay strong. We must continue to work HARD on ourselves every single day and help each other. Our disease is strong but WE ARE STRONGER and I vow to work every moment of my life to have myself sober so that i may be there for others.”

    Grande included several numbers to resources that anyone who may need help with substance abuse.

    “Malcolm my friend, you will be dearly missed,” he added. “And I know you will be looking down on me from heaven, proudAF for every day I live my life clean and sober… 453 days and counting… Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

    View the original article at thefix.com