4. "RE: Drugs And The Creative Process" In response to In response to 0 Sun Sep-02-12 08:48 AM by G_The_SP
Hell, marijuana was probably more prevalent amongst jazz musicians than it is in hip-hop today- they just didn't brag about it in every song. Not every jazz genius messed with H, but it was sadly common enough.
I'm an artist- and when i write or create something....
well, I'll explain it the way I explained to an older white female painter in her late 80s when we had this discussion at a holiday dinner (she was an art teacher)-
If you're gifted, you're gifted. Whatever brilliance you can naturally put out there will come out anyways, sober or not. I tried to explain to her my connection with pot and art and why I sometimes used pot to gain easier access to the creative part of my mind. I told her that whatever i can write or compose intoxicated, I can just as easily sober. I explained that sometimes drugs (particularly psychedelic drugs- the only kind i fuck with) will allow faster and easier access to what I'm trying to convey creatively and artistically. I gave her an analogy that the difference between creating sober and creating stoned is like the difference between trying to enter a room with a lock on the door, you gotta fumble around and look for the keys for 10 minutes just to get inside the room... and being able to just turn the knob and walk right into the room without a lock. Marijuana is the door without the lock.
I'm perfectly capable of being just as creative as i am stoned, sober, but it takes me longer to express what I really want to express. Marijuana provided a shortcut.
It becomes an issue if it grows into a dependency.
These days I prefer to create sober anyways, but i come up with some wicked ideas when stoned- not gonna lie.
So yeah, drugs does enhance the creative process- but it's not like the artists couldn't be great without it.