Jaden Smith, the 24-year-old rapper, singer, actor, environmentalist, and fashion designer, whom some may also know as an “Icon Livin’,” joined Aaron Rodgers, Melissa Etheridge, Eric Andre, Sasha Cohen, Michael Pollan, and John Powell Mackey at the Psychedelic Science Conference in Denver this June, hosted by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). He opened up about his use of plant medicine and how psychedelics had nurtured his empathy towards others, helped him improve his relationship with his family, paved the way for his philanthropic endeavors, boosted his creativity, and fostered a deeper connection to nature.
The rapper credits psychedelics for helping him develop a strong sense of understanding and compassion towards his siblings, Willow and Trey Smith.
“Siblings can argue so much and fight so much, and lord knows me and my siblings have done so much of that in the past,” he said. “But the level of love and empathy that I can feel for them inside of the [psychedelic] experiences and outside of the experiences has been something that’s profound and beautiful.”
However, his psychedelic experiences did not only nurture his empathy towards people, they also ignited his compassion toward the environment.
The actor revealed that psychedelics boosted his ability to access a “deeper, deeper, deeper layer of a connection with nature” than he had ever thought possible before he “discovered psychedelics and realized the effects.” It is this realization that inspired the celebrity to use his platform to broadcast the power that plant medicine holds.
Smith touted that the psychedelic experience, though it could be deeply transformative on a personal level, could also lead to a global shift towards sustainability and environmental consciousness. He proceeded to recount a story from the 1960s about a biologist whose LSD experience helped him envision the world in its entirety and how it could function in complete unity. “Ever since then, I feel like psychedelics, sustainability, and the environmental movement have always been at an intersection,” he said.
When he opened up about his first psychedelic experience, which served as a catalyst for his philanthropic endeavors and further boosted his creativity, Smith described the journey as “a turning point in his understanding of nature and self.”
Elaborating on psychedelics’ profound impact on creativity, the artist drew an unexpected analogy.
“You have a car on the top of a hill and if you just push it a little bit and then you run in front of and you stop it, you’ll be able to stop it. But if you push it from the top of the hill and you try to stop it when it’s at the bottom of the hill, you won’t be able to stop it.” This momentum, once it begins, has the potential to shape reality.
The rapper also explained that psychedelics have the capacity to induce a meditative state wherein one can have a deep sense of introspection and self-awareness. This sense of introspection plays an important role in his creative process, be it for his music or his designs.
Smith also couldn’t help but mention the importance of safe spaces when using psychedelics recreationally. He stressed that the physical and social environment during these experiences matters greatly.
“Whether it was me that was having a difficult time, whether there was someone else that was having a difficult time, you always want to have that support group of people around you,” Smith eloquently said. “The set, the setting is so important…it’s the physical set, the setting, but it’s also the mental, the mindset,” he explained.
This is not the first time that the artist has opened up about his use of plant medicine. In 2021, Jaden told Complex that his mixtape, CTV3, was inspired by his exploration of psychedelics.
“I really wanted to update people on the psychedelic journey that I’ve been on in my life and how that has affected me,” he answered when asked about his intentions with the project. Jaden explained that he wanted the mixtape to serve as “a soundtrack for people to be able to study their own mystical states of consciousness.”
The Smiths have been quite candid about their individual psychedelic experiences. In 2021, Will Smith stepped out of the psychedelic closet when a GQ cover profile briefly mentioned that the actor had taken part in over a dozen ayahuasca ceremonies. He then wrote about it in his memoir, Will, which hit the bookshelves later that year.
Around the same time, Jada Pinkett Smith, shared that psilocybin helped her overcome “crippling depression” on her Red Table Talk discussion around these substances with psychedelics researcher Dr. Monnica Williams. The Facebook Watch host credited plant medicine for helping her address the PTSD she has experienced due to being a person of color. “As African Americans, you don’t even recognize what it is. There’s so many [people] around you that are going through the same thing — it’s just a standard of living,” Jada said.
The Smith crew follows two-time MVP Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, pop star Miley Cyrus, alt-pop star Lorde , YouTuber Jake Paul , and actress Kristen Bell in publicly discussing their use of psychedelics, which for some, had a transformative effect on their creative achievements. For Jaden, these substances have inspired not only his music, but guided his philanthropic efforts.
