During the development of hip-hop music and related genres that were then avant-garde, such as songs by electro artists, many DJs and MCs felt a strong desire to touch on real-life issues among their listeners, particularly discussing matters such as street violence, drug use, and economic inequality.
In terms of the rest of the 2010s, music journalists such as Jason Lipshutz of Billboard have commented that references to illegal drugs remain a highly common topic in mainstream music.