Another reason I have to take my "get yo spirit right" pills every morning at this ASCAP Conference:
Since I've been at this conference, I've heard the phrase "poppin
mollies" so many times on so many panels coming from the mouths of
people with loud microphones and clear accents that I had to look it up.
I'd never heard of the phrase, the song, or anything else about it, but
apparently, "poppin' mollies" means ingesting MDMA.
MDMA is
an empathogenic drug of the phenethylamine and amphetamine classes of
drugs. MDMA has become widely known as "ecstasy", usually referring to
its street pill form, although this term may also include the presence
of possible adulterants. (Wikipedia)
Dick Gregory (left) and John Lennon (right) talking about stuff.
When I hear new things, I
don't just let them wash over me and become a part of my psyche without
thoroughly analyzing them. However, I've studied drugs and psychology
and I can tell you that ecstasy is one of those things that completely
alters the chemical composition of your brain permanently and with every
use, the user becomes a different person until their brain dies.
There are at least 5 popular songs out currently that reference "poppin
mollies", in ways that either (a) is a love song to the drug or (b) is
critiquing someone who is doing the drug. Love songs to drugs is not
new, but they are highly effective in ushering in drug dependency in a
population for a long period of time.
Dick Gregory once
prescribed a detox diet for John Lennon (a lot of people in Hollywood
went to Dick Gregory for health advice and detox information in the 60s,
70s, and 80s, including Michael Jackson, though Michael claims he never
did drugs...even though that's how he died...). John Lennon and the
rest of the rock n' roll rockers of that era were on a pretty heavy diet
of drugs like LSD, magic mushrooms, butthead drugs, and other
psychedelics in order to cope with the politics, poverty, and Vietnam
War in the name of "just love everybody". John Lennon confessed to Dick
Gregory that most of the Beatles songs were, in fact, love songs to
drugs saying, "How high do you have to be to see a yellow submarine?"
However, John Lennon transformed from writing drug love songs to writing
revolutionary music and had a fairly lucrative career until he was
killed in 1980.
The Beatles were a very popular band and
during the life span of the "British Invasion", the use of psychedelic
drugs skyrocketed. This lead to a whole generation of crazy hippies who
could never get their lives together and fill up homeless shelters all
over America. This is no coincidence.
In the same way that pop
music created demand for psychedelic drugs in the 1960s and 70s, pop
music is renewing a demand for psychedelic drugs, only now, it's MDMA.
Young people all over the country know of and use MDMA largely because
they're trying to live out the stories in pop songs and cope with the
abuse they experience at home in the name of "just love everybody". MDMA
is not now nor has it ever been advertised on television, internet,
radio, magazines, newspapers, or any other largely accepted and
regulated media source. However, advertisements run wild in popular
music and that's where kids get their information. In 20 years, MDMA
addicts will be filling up the homeless shelters all over America and
this will be no coincidence.
The music industry is full of
shit, but industry execs don't sit at tables and say "let's find an
artist who sings about poppin' mollies." What happens is that somebody
from the streets writes a love song about MDMA from his/her heart
because (s)he really loves that drug. Kids are feeling it because that
artist is telling the story of their life in a passionate way and the
execs say "I think we have a star on our hands. Let's make this money."
And then, kids buy it and it's a market success. It's all numbers based.
The entire music industry includes YOU and passivity and keeping your
eyes, ears, and mouths closed is the main reason destructive things
continue. Music, unlike shipping containers, is something that touches
every human being on the planet. So get active in your music industry
and demand better by talking about it, educating your community, and at
very least, don't buy a song about poppin' mollies.
Response from writer/poet LaToya Hampton: "I
first heard of "Molly" about 8 months ago at my last job working with
high-risk youth at an alternative school. Like you, I didn't just let it
go by me and or hush them like the other staff, deeming the subject
matter as inappropriate. I asked more about
it. The Molly they described consists of multiple drugs and was
presented as a very common thing to do, almost just as much as
marijuana. And, now, the reference is so frequent, it's troubling; most
recent example being the Rick Ross controversy. Scary and crazy, but
when we remain on the true issue that most people are just trying to
deal with and get by in this life, not hurt and try to give and get love
in return without taking the risk to actually feel the possible
negative outcomes, then once again, it is us who should look at the
world and do our part to see how we can make it just that much better,
where people don't have to search out and reach for pseudo, synthetic
love to make us feel wanted and that we belong, even for a short time."
Response from writer/poet Indigo:
"Dear Hip-Hop and R&B:
If you are mainstream, I'm 'quitting' you. That's an
ebonic colloquialism for us no longer being in a relationship. It's
quite an artistic trauma since you have probably been my one of my
longest and most intimate relationships. How can you get me back? Maybe
if you stop calling me a bitch, I'll buy more of your records.
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