Pass the...

Let me start out this post by saying that I was saddened when I heard that Dr. Dre's 20 year-old son, Andrew Young Jr. passed away in August 2008. However, I was also very disappointed when I read a news story this afternoon that reported that he was found to have overdosed on morphine and heroin.

I hate to say it but there's this evil side of me that shakes my head when things like this happen. Simply because it seems like another case of a pop culture figure getting a reality check on just how destructive their contribution to greater society has been. Clearly I can't say that Dr. Dre is the reason why his son OD'd but I can say that any form of popular culture that promotes drug use, can't be too surprised when it's negative effects hit them where it hurts.

Take rapper Pimp C for example, who was found dead in a hotel in California after over dosing on the colorful codeine concoction known as "Purp", "Sizzurp," or "Lean," The intoxicating beverage which was made popular by Houston-based rappers like himself who glorified it in their music, was found to be the cause of his death.



Can we really do anything besides shake our heads when we find that he's fell victim to his own vices? Can we be sympathetic to his partner Bun B, who all of a sudden things glorifying the consumption of prescription cough medicine concoctions is... *gasp*... a bad idea?!!?!? (Well, a bad idea now that his long time companion died because of it. It was okay when the kids were OD'ing, just don't let it happen to someone I actually know.)

But I digress. I don't want to go to hard with speaking ill of the dead and all... I especially don't want to go to hard on Dr. Dre, who I feel wasn't as irresponsible as Pimp C with his message but I can't help but shake my head nonetheless.

Dre's Detox album, which is supposed to be a concept album, has been pushed back to sometime in 2009... I'm not sure what that "concept" is but if it's at all related to the title, it's probably too little too late.