A High Note: Drug Misuse in Popular Rap Music

During the last decade, drug abuse rates, particularly prescription drugs, have increased. Simultaneously, music consumption has dramatically increased, and the leading genre is currently rap music. While the casual relationship is debated, musical preference is related to substance misuse and other risky behaviors. There is a lack of studies examining rap music and references to specific types and forms of drugs. Objective: The present study seeks to broaden the understanding of the messages related to substance misuse within rap music over time. Method: A lyrical content evaluation of the top 25 most popular rap songs between 2006 and 2018 (n = 325) identifying references to alcohol, illicit, and prescription drug misuse. Results: 72% (n = 233) of popular rap songs contain references to one or more substances, with 947 references, which resulted in 63 references to drugs or alcohol after just one hour of listening. Further, 50% of songs included illicit drug references, including marijuana (38%), manufacturing or selling drugs (19%), cocaine or crack (17%), and MDMA (6%). Prescription drug misuse occurred in 20% of songs, including; prescription cold medication (13%), other types of opioids (4%), and various other prescriptions (e.g. Xanax & Adderall) (10%). Yearly trends indicate that alcohol lyrics are declining, illicit drug lyrics remain stable, and prescription drug lyrics increase. Conclusions/Importance: The rise in music consumption with rap music leading in popularity and 72% of songs celebrating drug usage is a concerning trend, especially as prescription drug misuse is rising in popularity within rap music.

Crime Rates in a Pandemic: the Largest Criminological Experiment in History

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has impacted the world in ways not seen in generations. Initial evidence suggests one of the effects is crime rates, which appear to have fallen drastically in many communities around the world. We argue that the principal reason for the change is the government ordered stay-at-home orders, which impacted the routine activities of entire populations. Because these orders impacted countries, states, and communities at different times and in different ways, a naturally occurring, quasi-randomized control experiment has unfolded, allowing the testing of criminological theories as never before. Using new and traditional data sources made available as a result of the pandemic criminologists are equipped to study crime in society as never before. We encourage researchers to study specific types of crime, in a temporal fashion (following the stay-at-home orders), and placed-based. The results will reveal not only why, where, when, and to what extent crime changed, but also how to influence future crime reduction.