He eventually began freebasing crack cocaine. Steinberg departed and returned several times, sometimes freebasing crack cocaine. The Los Angeles police reported he was burned by an explosion while freebasing cocaine. Around this time, his consumption of cocaine and freebasing were becoming an increasingly serious problem. The film came out after Pryor had set himself on fire while freebasing. Freebasing is a more efficient method of self-administering alkaloids via the smoking route.