The Painful Relapse of DMX and Societal Treatment of Black Substance Abuse

The tragic overdose of rapper DMX has brought up questions of the roles race plays in how drug abuse is viewed and treated.

SEPTEMBER, 2014: Earl DMX Simmons performing live music show in a nightclub. AP Images.

Substance use and its subsequent abuse have grown more normalized throughout the art world. Yet nowhere is it as prevalent as in the field of music. Across almost every genre lyrics detailing drug use can be found throughout. 

Of course, excessive drug use often ends i…