--- title: Jay Z Calls War on Drugs Is an 'Epic Fail' in Times Video description: In a collaboration with artist Molly Crabapple, Jay Z offers an illustrated op-ed on The War on Drugs. canonical: https://time.com/4495458/jay-z-war-on-drugs-epic-fail-video/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-15T17:16:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:36:37.097Z og:title: Jay Z Thinks The War on Drugs Is an 'Epic Fail' og:description: "It’s time to rethink our policies and laws." og:url: https://time.com/4495458/jay-z-war-on-drugs-epic-fail-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73924515ee6ebf95/6988a63da988cad9026b96e3/jay-z-war-on-drugs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Celebrity Sightings in New York City - June 6, 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jay Z Thinks The War on Drugs Is an 'Epic Fail' twitter:description: "It’s time to rethink our policies and laws." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73924515ee6ebf95/6988a63da988cad9026b96e3/jay-z-war-on-drugs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jay Z Calls the War on Drugs an 'Epic Fail' in Searing New Video > Sponsored content. 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(Photo by Robert Kamau/GC Images) Robert Kamau—GC Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 15, 2016 5:16 PM UTC [Jay Z](http://time.com/4462653/jay-z-beyonce-matching-suits/) gave a searing critique on [the war on drugs](http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1887488,00.html) via an illustrated multimedia op-ed for [_The New York Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/opinion/jay-z-the-war-on-drugs-is-an-epic-fail.html?%5Fr=1), where he bluntly calls the plan created by Richard Nixon an “epic fail” in a video that credits him as both writer and narrator. The rapper, [whose past as a drug dealer in New York has been a longtime part of his hip-hop narrative](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COCpn1W13Kw), outlines [the history of the war on drugs from his perspective](http://time.com/4187449/el-chapo-war-on-drugs/) in a facts and data-driven format, evocatively animated by artist Molly Crabapple. In the four-minute video, Jay Z discusses the inequality of the anti-drug campaign, from his coming-of-age in NYC in the ’80s amid [“Reaganomics”](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19810921,00.html) and the end of social safety nets, where “young men like me who hustled became the sole villains” and persisting issues that differ by state despite progressive movements toward [marijuana legalization](http://time.com/3079707/marijuana-legalization-teens-health/) and addiction aid. He particularly focuses on the higher rate of mass incarceration concerning men of color. Jay ends by issuing a call to action. “Rates of drug use are as high as they were when Nixon declared this so-called war in 1971,” he says. “Forty-five years later, it’s time to rethink our policy and laws. The war on drugs is an epic fail.” Watch the full clip below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4495458/jay-z-war-on-drugs-epic-fail-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4495458/jay-z-war-on-drugs-epic-fail-video/"},"headline":"Jay Z Calls the War on Drugs an 'Epic Fail' in Searing New Video","datePublished":"2016-09-15T17:16:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:37.097Z","description":"\"It’s time to rethink our policies and laws.\"","url":"https://time.com/4495458/jay-z-war-on-drugs-epic-fail-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Music","Jay-z","celebrity","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73924515ee6ebf95/6988a63da988cad9026b96e3/jay-z-war-on-drugs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73924515ee6ebf95/6988a63da988cad9026b96e3/jay-z-war-on-drugs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Celebrity Sightings in New York City - June 6, 2016","caption":"Celebrity Sightings in New York City - June 6, 2016","creditText":"Robert Kamau—GC Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4495458/jay-z-war-on-drugs-epic-fail-video/","name":"Jay Z Calls the War on Drugs an 'Epic Fail' in Searing New Video"}}]}] ```