Video: Macklemore feat. Ariana DeBoo - 'Drug Dealer'
Macklemore bares all in the sobering music video for “Drug Dealer.”
Somber, nude, and in tears, the Seattle rapper takes on drug addiction, race, and pain while sweating and upset.
“I could’ve been gone,” he raps while looking directly at the camera. “Faded in that tub / That’s Prince, Michael, and Whitney / That’s Amy, Ledger, and Pimp C / That’s Yams, that’s DJ AM / God damn they’re making a killing.”
Buried in pills, Ariana DeBoo sings about the dangers of prescription drugs as well. “My drug dealer was a doctor,” she adds. “Had the plug from Big Pharma / I think he tryin’ to kill me / He tried to kill me for a dollar.”
The graphic video shows Macklemore’s painful and vomit-filled withdrawals. “Best friends with the thing that’s killing me,” he raps. “Enemies with my best friends, there’s no healing me.”
While most of the video is dark, the Jason Koenig-directed clip ends with a positive outcome as Mack is hugging others at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.
The track was made for MTV’s Prescription For Change: Ending America’s Opioid Crisis documentary, which can be viewed below.