(with Ryan Lewis)
(feat. Ariana DeBoo)
[youtube]https://youtu.be/fYN14UfO-Uc[/youtube]
[Macklemore:]
They said it wasn't a gateway drug
My homie was takin' subs and he ain't wake up
The whole while, these billionaires, they kicked up
Paying out congress so we take their drugs
Murderers who will never face the judge
And we dancin' to a song about our face goin' numb
But I seen homies turn grey, noses draining blood
I could've been gone, out 30's, faded in that tub
That's Prince, Michael and Whitney, that's Amy, Ledger and Pimp C
That's Yams, that's DJ A.M
God damn they're making a killing
Now it's getting attention cause Sara, Katey and Billy
But this shit's been going one from Seattle out to South Philly
It just moved out about the city
And spread out to the 'burbs
Now it's everybody's problem, got a nation on the verge
Take Activis off the market, jack the price up on the syrup
But Purdue farmer's 'bout to move that work
[Ariana DeBoo:]
My drug dealer was a doctor, doctor
Had the plug from Big Pharma, Pharma
He said that he would heal me, heal me
But he only gave me problems, problems
My drug dealer was a doctor, doctor
Had the plug from Big Pharma, Pharma
I think he trying to kill me, kill me
He tried to kill me for a dollar, dollar
[Macklemore:]
And these devil's they keep on talkin' to me
They screamin' "open the bottle," I wanna be at peace
My hand is gripping that throttle, I'm running out of speed
Tryin' close my eyes but I keep sweatin' through these sheets, through these sheets
Four horseman, they won't let me forget
I wanna forge a prescription, cause doctor I need some more of it
When Morphine and heroine is more viewer budget
I said I'd never use a needle, but sure, fuck it
I'm caught up, I'm on one, I'm nauseous
No options, exhausted
This is not what I started
Walkin' carcass, I lost everything I wanted
My blinds drawn, too gone to leave this apartment
[Ariana DeBoo:]
My drug dealer was a doctor, doctor
Had the plug from Big Pharma, Pharma
He said that he would heal me, heal me
But he only gave me problems, problems
My drug dealer was a doctor, doctor
Had the plug from Big Pharma, Pharma
I think he trying to kill me, kill me
He tried to kill me for a dollar, dollar
[Macklemore:]
More, more, more
Re-up, re-up
Death certificate signed the prenup
Ain't no coming back from this percocet
Actavis, ambien, adderral, xanax binge
Best friends with the thing that's killing me
Enemies with my best friend, there's no healing me
Refilling these, refilling these
They say it's death, death
Institutions and DOC's
So God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change
Courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference
And the wisdom to know the difference
Macklemore's newest single is an emotional, sometimes unsettling takedown of the pharmaceutical industry and what the Seattle rapper sees as a pandemic of drug addictions driven by doctors who carelessly overprescribe medicine. "My drug dealer was a doctor," sings Ariana Deboo on the hook. "He said that he would heal me, but he only gave me problems ... I think he trying to kill me. Tried to kill me for a dollar."
The new video for "Drug Dealer," directed by Jason Koenig, shows a naked, sweaty Macklemore as he battles gut-wrenching withdrawal symptoms. Macklemore has been open about his own real-life struggle with drug and alcohol addiction; he went through rehab in 2008. Last year, he and Ryan Lewis released the song "Kevin," a funk-flavored tirade against the ravages of addiction and overprescription.
In a January 2014 interview with MTV News, the rapper divulged that as he wrote rhymes as a young adult, he dabbled in Oxycontin, an opioid that is now at the forefront of the U.S. epidemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly half a million Americans died from drug overdoses between 2000 and 2014. Opioid overdose deaths, including those from heroin, hit record highs in 2014 and saw a 14 percent increase in only one year.
"[Oxycontin] is synthetic heroin, that's the definition of it," Macklemore told MTV News. " the grip that it had, just doing it for five or six days, sweating through my sheets and coming off of it shaking."
In the music video for “Drug Dealer,” Macklemore is depicted sweating through his sheets and writhing in bed, apparently portraying what was once his-real life experience coping with withdrawal symptoms from opioids. At age 25, the Seattle native went into rehab, to which he credits his life.
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Note from Naga Fireball:
DIED - JULY 28, 2007 ** TY COOPER PRINCE, 43, of Cooksey Fork, KY.