From Eminem to Kendrick Lamar, Rappers Who Embraced Sobriety

When asked about the song’s authenticity, 50 replied, “I don’t drink and I don’t use drugs, and I didn’t back then, either. It turns out that there are quite a lot of rappers who don’t touch drugs or alcohol. Many other sober celebrities, including Pharrell Williams and Eminem, also fit the cateogry. Kendrick Lamar credits a childhood impacted by substance abuse for his choice to live sober. The Grammy award-winner doesn’t drink or do drugs, and he’s a vocal advocate for clean living. Born in Compton, California, Lamar began releasing music under the stage name K.Dot while attending high school.

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BDO understands that the uniqueness of Black culture – our heritage and our traditions – plays a role in our health. BDO gives you access to innovative new approaches to the health information you need in everyday language so you can break through the disparities, gain control and live your life to its fullest. From proclaiming to be the best rapper alive, to winning multiple Grammy’s, creating one of the most widely played songs in the history of a rap beef, and now performing at the Superbowl, Kendrick star continues to rise. I barely think about it alcohol’ he explained to The Telegraph, after a long route to getting sober after filming the Harry Potter franchise.

• I had a platinum album out and I would do stuff like go to the projects to buy weed,” he said.
• That kept him pure, but he needed another outlet to express his innermost convictions.
• At the age of 16, he says that he vomited outside a club due to alcohol, trying to catch it in his hands.
• Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show on February 9, 2025 4, showcased how sobriety enhances rather than hinders performance.

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“Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-Minor,” Lamar famously rapped. Drake, in response, resorted to suing his own record company for promoting Lamar’s track, calling it “defamation” against him. “Chad Keaton … was like my little brother; we grew up in the same community,” he explained. Keaton was just 23 years old when he was tragically shot in a drive-by shooting in July 2013, and though he initially survived, he succumbed a month later to his injuries. “He was on the right path. But, you know, things happen where sometimes the good are in the wrong places, and that’s exactly what happened,” Lamar remarked.

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“Swimming Pools (Drank)”, the lead single from the former album, marked Lamar’s first entry on the US Billboard does kendrick lamar do drugs Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City also contained the moderately successful singles “The Recipe”, “Poetic Justice”, “Backseat Freestyle”, and “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”. To Pimp a Butterfly was supported by five singles—”I” (which reached the top 40 in the U.S. and several European countries), “The Blacker the Berry”, “King Kunta”, “Alright”, and “These Walls”.

Kendrick Lamar’s Poetic Awakening

At the time, two rival gangs in his neighborhood were at war, making the journey to school unbearable for young Lamar. But in a 2003 interview with The Guardian, Mr. 3000 said that he quit smoking pot and drinking in 1998 after realizing that the drug had taken control of his life. I had a platinum album out and I would do stuff like go to the projects to buy weed,” he said. “I knew it wasn’t too clever. I was putting myself in danger,” he stated.

2013: Good Kid, M.A.A.D City

Finally, he had an avenue to unpack his feelings—and Inge would play a major role in his intellectual growth. Kendrick had to work hard to perfect his craft, and Inge wasn’t easy on him. When Kendrick submitted his work, Inge would often send it back with visible prompts for the budding poet to dig deeper. Prosaic language wouldn’t cut it; the young man needed to strengthen his lexicon before his prose could truly shine. “I would always circle something and say, ‘Kendrick, change this, move this right here,’” Inge says.

• Yet, Lamar’s success proves that sobriety can fuel creative excellence.
• At least this was the tune he sang until he released “Just What I Am,” off his 2013 Indicud album, featuring weed rap veteran King Chip, where Cudi repeatedly rattled the bass with the simple melody, “I need smoke.
• “I’m in a financial place where I can enable it myself, and I don’t ever want to be that guy,” he affirmed.

Other charted and certified songs

• It was a deeply personal album that separated him from his Slim Shady alter ego.
• Born in Compton, California, Lamar began releasing music under the stage name K.Dot while attending high school.
• Manduca, Robert, et al. “Punishing and toxic neighborhood environments independently predict the intergenerational social mobility of black and white children.” PNAS, 2019.
• Learning to live with myself, void of substances, is exhausting.

Along with benefits such as improved sleep, energy levels and wellbeing, it’s no surprise that the likes of Brad Pitt and more recently Tom Holland have decided to swerve the sauce. Here are 21 celebrities that have chosen sobriety in order to ditch the negative effects. Kendrick was a solid student who earned good grades and put his all into creative writing.

Some of the most famous rap couples throughout history have dealt with issues like addiction and infidelity. While the couple hasn’t spoken publicly about Lamar’s cheating, it seemed that Alford was willing to stand by his side and work through things out for the betterment of their family. Lamar had little time to grieve his friend’s death, with performances scheduled on either end of the memorial service. He did, however, post a tribute to Keaton on Twitter following the service. Alongside a selfie featuring his late friend, Lamar wrote, “Rest N Heaven my Lil bro. Watched u become a man. U fought bro. The city stole yo life, but not your legacy.”

Rappers Who Don’t Smoke Or Drink

He did it all without a drop of booze, Drug rehabilitation without a single toke. The drug known as “Molly” was most recently publicized when the rapper Rick Ross spoke of using the drug to sleep with a woman without her permission. Another song by Wiz Khalifa repeats the word “Molly” over and over again in the song, as if the rapper is spending his life looking for it. ‘If I continued it, I was really going to sabotage my whole life,’ Cooper told GQ in 2013.