Hip-hop and Hollywood mogul 50 Cent is adding more to his IMDB bio. He’s been brought on to star in and executive-produce Free Agents, a heist thriller movie for Lionsgate. 50 Cent To Portray Football Player In New Movie Free Agents will be directed by Deon Taylor, who also co-wrote the script. 50 Cent will […]
The post 50 Cent Set To Star In New ‘Free Agents’ Thriller appeared first on SOHH.com.
The death of George Floyd last summer shook the world. Over the past few weeks, people have been anxiously waiting for the verdict of the Derek Chauvin trial following testimonies from police officers, Floyd’s family, and medical officials. Yesterday, the defense and prosecution offered their closing statements in the case, and the jurors deliberated rather quickly.
Judge Cahil revealed the verdict in front of the court. The jury found Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd. His bail was revoked and he will remain in custody until sentencing in eight weeks.
“Today the world had its hope and faith restored in the American justice system. All that people crave is accountability when an officer kills a Black American. For far too long that had never happened. Now George Floyd’s soul can finally rest in peace. Justice has been served,” said civil rights attorney L. Chris Stewart.
Many expressed their relief over the guilty verdict, especially after the demand for justice over the course of the last year. Guapdad 4000 said that it felt bittersweet that justice is being served, given that Floyd shouldn’t have died in the first place. It was a sentiment many echoed across social media.
“Last summer, Yellow Springs [Ohio] was what Hollywood is supposed to be,” says Talib Kweli about the much mythologized “Chappelle Summer Camp” of 2020, which has now given birth to Dave Chappelle’s first podcast. “What we realized is that Hollywood and all that stuff is fake. The real dopeness is where the people are. If someone like Chappelle says, ‘Well, I’m in Yellow Springs.’ Then that’s where the people are going to be.”
The show, co-hosted by Kweli and Yasiin Bey and called The Midnight Miracle, will air on the subscription podcast network Luminary, will reveal the inner workings of Chappelle’s covid rapid tested events (along with the even more legendary after-parties), held in Ohio through the summer and deep into the fall. The first episodes are set to drop “in the coming weeks” and will feature wide-ranging conversations as well as sketches, archival clips, and impersonations from Chappelle, along with a roster of his incredibly famous friends.
“The constant isn’t fame,” Kweli says, “it’s contributions to the culture. Chappelle, one of his many talents, is curating great rooms, so what people will hear on the podcast is essentially what they would hear if they were in the room with us. It’s very organic, very free-flowing, it’s non-linear… we just happen to associate ourselves with greatness.”
“The Midnight Miracle” was recorded in a retrofitted mechanic’s garage turned clubhouse, and the trio has already banked over 100 hours of content recorded with a jaw-dropping list of guests from Common and Tiffany Haddish to Questlove and Chris Rock (plus a soundtrack that includes Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, and D’Angelo).
As for where the seed of the show first blossomed, Kweli credits his longtime Black Star partner in rhyme, Yasiin Bey. The trio’s friendship has endured since the Chappelle’s Show days.
“We speak often and the last few years we’ve spoken more, as we’ve gotten older,” Kweli tells us. “It was actually Yasiin’s idea to do this type of podcast, when he and Dave first heard people talking about my show, The People’s Party. [People’s Party is produced by Uproxx] Yasiin said to Dave, ‘you should be doing a podcast, too’ and Dave said ‘well the only way I’m doing it is if I do it with ya’ll,’ It was just that simple.”
“Making a podcast isn’t the obvious next move for me, but it’s the right one,” Chappelle said in a press release announcing the show. “The Midnight Miracle gives you a look into how me and my friends process the world around us, and I think it will change the way listeners think of what a podcast can be.”
Look for The Midnight Miracle to drop on Luminary in the weeks to come.
Former Minneapolis police officer and the man responsible for killing Black man George Floyd is going to remain behind bars. Along with second-degree unintentional murder, Derek Chauvin has been convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. BREAKING: George Floyd’s Killer Charged W/ Murder After days of testimonies and publicized court appearances, Chauvin’s fate was announced […]
The post BREAKING: George Floyd’s Killer Derek Chauvin Found Guilty appeared first on SOHH.com.
After fatally kneeling on the neck of George Floyd in May of 2020, Derek Chauvin has been found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. The verdict was read by Judge Peter Cahill in a Hennepin County court following the deliberation of the 12-member jury.
Judge Cahill announced that Chauvin’s bail was to be revoked. The disgraced former police officer was handcuffed in the courtroom and taken into custody. Judge Cahill confirmed that the sentence would arrive in eight weeks.
Following the guilty verdict, Floyd family attorney Ben Crump issued a statement:
“Painfully earned justice has arrived for George Floyd’s family and the community here in Minneapolis, but today’s verdict goes far beyond this city and has significant implications for the country and even the world. Justice for Black America is justice for all of America. This case is a turning point in American history for accountability of law enforcement and sends a clear message we hope is heard clearly in every city and every state. We thank Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and his team for their fierce dedication to justice for George. But it does not end here. We have not forgotten that the other three officers who played their own roles in the death of George Floyd must still be held accountable for their actions, as well.”
“Today the world had its hope and faith restored in the American justice system,” added civil rights attorney L. Chris Stewart. “All that people crave is accountability when an officer kills a Black American. For far too long that had never happened. Now George Floyd’s soul can finally rest in peace. Justice has been served.”
Watch the reading of the guilty verdict below.
It has been nearly two years since the release of Cordae’s debut album The Lost Boy, and the 23-year-old Maryland native’s fans are getting antsy for a follow-up. They’ve had a few singles to old them over recently, including the Roddy Ricch-featuring “Gifted,” which made Cordae’s name change official, and “The Parables,” which put his songwriting prowess on display, but Wednesday night/Thursday morning, Cordae’s giving the world a few more appetizers ahead of his nearly-completed sophomore album.
Today, he announced the upcoming release of Just Until…, a four-song EP releasing at midnight “tomorrow” featuring guest appearances from two disparate entities that highlight the young rapper’s cross-generational appeal. On “More Life,” he’ll team up with Q-Tip, who represents the ’90s Golden Era that clearly influences much of Cordae’s work, while on “Wassup,” he’s recruited Young Thug, one of the top representatives of the modern generation of genre-bending rappers to which Cordae himself belongs.
Album is almost done, but here’s something Just Until….
Tomorrow at Midnight
pic.twitter.com/v8LZvnBeSQ
— Cordae’ (@cordae) April 20, 2021
While that tension has helped to make Cordae a favorite of both older rap fans and younger ones, as seen in his ability to convincingly collaborate with the jazzy Dinner Party crew on “Freeze Tag” and Stevie Wonder and Busta Rhymes on “Can’t Put It In The Hands Of Fate,” it’s also generated some behind-the-scenes friction. Royce Da 5’9″ recently told a podcast that Atlantic actually blocked Cordae from appearing on his Grammy-nominated The Allegory because higher-ups at the label allegedly “want to keep him young.”
However, the tracklist for Just Until… seems to suggest that the wise-beyond-his-years Cordae doesn’t care about all that — he just wants to work with the best of the best. Look out for that release on 4/21 at midnight and his full album later this year.
Cordae is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Earth Day is right around the corner and as the climate change crisis persists, it’s more important than ever to raise awareness about environmentalism. That’s why iconic TV host Bill Nye The Science Guy has tapped several musicians including Justin Bieber and Jack Harlow to join him in an Earth Day-themed musical.
Earth Day! The Musical takes place on April 22 and follows Nye as he and a handful of celebrities and activists share information about how individuals can do their part to help curb the effects of climate change. Other celebrities slated to join Bieber, Harlow, and Nye include Maluma, Ben Platt, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, Cody Simpson, Steve Aoki, Tori Kelly, Zac Efron, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, and Nick Kroll.
The event will stream on Facebook and also showcase the important work of several entrepreneurs trying to make the world a better place. CEO Alexia Akbay will highlight their Hawaii-based company Symbrosia, which uses seaweed to reduce livestock methane, and 18-year-old Jerome Foster II will discuss how he became the youngest member of the Biden White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Earth Day! The Musical premieres 4/22 at 12 p.m. ET. Watch it here.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
The origin story of OG Kush is mysterious. Like many strains of its kind, it comes from the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan, but its rapid evolution into a quintessential cannabis strain began in the 90s. Per Leafly, it was Florida native, Matt “Bubba” Berger who crossbred Northern Lights to create what we know as Bubba Kush. It soon gained notoriety across Florida, with whispers of this magical strain proliferating throughout the country-wide underground cannabis community. It wasn’t until it was transplanted in California that it became synonymous with hip-hop’s famed smokers like Snoop Dogg, B-Real, and Xzibit, and pop culture, as a whole.
Josh D. is credited for preserving the OG Kush strain from its origins in Florida to its new home in California. Eventually, it was Brett Feldman, the co-founder of cannabis legacy brand Wonderbrett alongside Cameron Damwijk, who got his hands on the plant and introduced it to some of the world’s most renowned smokers including both Xzibit and B-Real.
The coveted OG Kush strain Brett and Cam were growing afforded them access to the most exclusive places you can imagine. Dr. Dre’s 1999 album The Chronic 2001 was named after the strongest that the West Coast had to offer. The same products that fueled those sessions just happened to come from Brett and Cam’s acclaimed OG grow.
“I met Snoop, Dre, and those guys through Xzibit. Xzibit was the guy that really embraced me. I met him randomly like I just took a chance. We were in the Tower Records when Tower Records were still open,” explained Brett over a Zoom call. The powers of OG Kush brought him into the star-powered recording sessions where he would deliver jars of weed to his clients.
“I was delivering these little glass jars to the sessions,” he continued. “I was able to sit in with Mike Elizondo, the bass player for Chronic 2001. Mel-Man, Fred Wreck, Scott Storch, and all these guys. I got to hear the [signature keys from “Still D.R.E.”] before it came out. Some of those little snippets, you never really knew what was going to happen. Dr. Dre was a master of secrecy.”
Habitual smokers may favor Wonderbrett’s OG Kush strain, but their menu has since expanded with strains and flavors to fit everyone’s lifestyle. Wonderbrett even paired up with Russ recently, to launch a signature strain named after the rapper’s latest EP, CHOMP. The CHOMP strain was introduced with Russ’s preferences in mind. That is, a flower that can get the creative juices flowing during studio sessions.
“He just doesn’t smoke in public, but he really likes smoking and making music,” explained Cameron Damwijk of their collaboration with Russ. “So that’s what we kind of focus on. Okay then, so you really want something that is creative, that’s not so, so heavy couch lock-y, that’s going to give you a really nice vibing feeling.”
Ahead of 4/20, we chopped it up with Wonderbrett founders Cameron Damwijk and Brett Feldman for an in-depth conversation on their journey through the cannabis industry, sitting in the studio for Dr. Dre’s The Chronic 2001 sessions, and of course, this history of their famous OG Kush.
HNHH: Just to kick off, talk to me about your beginnings with cultivating cannabis? Where does this journey begin for both of you guys?
Brett: I think, Cam, you should go first because yours is more interesting. In the beginning, I was always jealous of your story.
Cameron: I got brought up into it a little bit by my father and my uncle. They were growing cannabis when I was younger. We were in a construction space, always so they were pretty handy at building grow rooms. Early on as a kid, about 12, 13 years old, I got exposed to my dad and my uncle and my uncle bought a grow room that they had in the back of their electrical shop. So, that was kind of my first introduction to the cannabis world.
I had already been asking my friends to buy some weed. You know, “Hey let’s get some weed and then smoke some weed” and my friends were already smoking with my Dad, they were a little older than me. So they were like “Yo, just go talk to your Dad about it.” So, when I started asking my Dad, he’s like, “ Hey, I gotta show you something.” He showed me the grow, finally and thought I was of age. So, that was kind of my introduction to growing cannabis.
Literally, planting the seed for your future.
C: It was. Yeah, definitely. Then I had bouts in and out of it, you know? I hadn’t been growing weed and neither had my Dad from that point going forward. We’ve done electrical and construction throughout the years with going in and out of cultivating until really about probably 12, 14 years ago or so. Almost 20, I think I was 20 years old, is when I kind of took it on my own. When I met Brett, actually early on, too. We became friends about 20 years ago. He always did his own thing and I kind of did my own, but we were in the same circle growing weed together.
What about you Brett?
B: For me, it was one of those things where I was one of those kids that were brainwashed in the ’80s in the D.A.R.E program. I thought that weed was like heroin and cocaine. When I found out that some people in my family were smoking it, I was devastated. I thought they were killing themselves. I didn’t understand it until I got a little bit older. Then I got interested in it around the age of 14. They had A.D.D medication for Attention Deficit Disorder and dyslexia. They give me Ritalin and stuff like that, Dexedrine. As soon as I started smoking though, I had a different perspective of, like, my mind slowed down. I didn’t have to take those other drugs to be focused anymore. Smoking weed gave me a lot of focus, actually. It calmed me down in the right way. It balanced me out. I always loved the plant like that and then, you’re smoking all the time, you start to need more money to buy more. You start buying stuff and flipping it to get more for cheaper. Before you know it, you’re standing in a grow room somewhere and you’re starting to learn how to grow. And that’s what happened to me.
With the Kush, that was the first strain that I really grew all the way. I tried popping seeds like that before and done a few things in the backyard like earlier on. It wasn’t until Kush was introduced to me and how profound that strain was, that led to having the opportunity to grow it. And then knowing, like, okay this is like a God sent [plant] given to me. I feel like I have to protect this genetic and that’s what we did. We really protected it. We still have it, now. It’s 20 plus years later and we still have it. That genetic changed everything.
It really was a big game-changer. Kind of the beauty behind it is, how mysterious its origin story is. So could you guys, just for our reader’s sake, tell me the origins of OG Kush, or at least, the origins of how it got into your hands?
B: Yeah, so I was going to school at Humboldt and I thought we had the best weed there was. I was coming down to LA to see my parents and visit my family constantly. They had their catering business in the Granada Hills. I would work at my parent’s catering business all the time when I wasn’t in school. I just randomly met this guy at this sushi bar; a local in my neighborhood. He was like, “You smell amazing, I’m all out of weed can you help me?”
I was a little bit suspect but we were the only ones in there and he looked like the right kind of guy. So I was like, alright. I hooked him up with a little bit, gave him my phone number and he was like, “I have this other weed that I get normally I’m waiting on called Kush.” It was Kush Bubba, at that time. It wasn’t even OG Original Kush, it was the Bubba cross. I hadn’t seen that, yet. He called me and was like, “Yo I just wanted to share with you because you blessed me.” Then, from there, he introduced me to the Kush and it was amazing. The Kush Bubba was amazing. It was better than everything we had seen at Humboldt, at that point. Then he tells me about the original OG Kush, that another friend of his has up in San Francisco, in the Bay. This is Josh D. and his friend Ian [who] are the guys who have the Kush at the time. They just brought it to California about a year before.
Luckily enough, after working a relationship with the guys for a little bit, they gave me the strain. They gave me the cuts. They weren’t even rooted, they were just in a plastic bag, like, four or five clones. He was like, ‘You got to learn how to grow this.’ And from that point forward was when I kind of made it my mission to learn how to grow.
I had no place to set up lights or anything. I set up my first grow light above my Dad’s catering business on Chatsworth Street in Granada Hills which I had for about 3 or 4 weeks before he finally came up into the office and realized what I was doing in there and told me to get it out. He was super pissed but that was like the beginning of it.
When you are gifted that strain you realize how special it was. It was better than anything you’d ever seen. When you go share it with other people, the reaction that they would give you and the doors that it would open for you to go places because of how good it was. And the relationships that it would create. I had no idea at that point in time, but I knew the value of it because of how special it was. All those ancillary effects are something that came after the fact, when you look back you like “Wow, it really did change our lives in a lot of ways.”
Cam, what was your experience with OG Kush?
C : When I got out of high school, one of my high school friends, her boyfriend, was friends with Brett. I would go over to her house after school and we would just be blazing. A couple of months went by and then Brett came through one night. That guy who was already friends with Brett, they were already growing the Kush. So I was already exposed to the Kush right then from this dude. He wasn’t quite growing it as good, but decent and it was still so unique.
Then Brett came through, actually the first time I met him and he had this little vaporizer box that he made, that he was vaporizing the OG Kush out of. That strange smokey night, it got me so high and it was so unique that it was the one strain that made me go, “Oh man there’s something here.” This is definitely unique and gives you some sort of power, right? Like, you felt that. I partnered right after that, with my buddy Matt, who now has Redline Reserve Genetics. He has his own brand out there and space with B-Real, also. He set me up with the grow house right then and started growing it. It literally was that because you realized once you grew it, you could make so many new relationships with just that. It was that path that got you into places.
I’d walk into a pipe shop and I’d had just a little eighth in my pocket and I’d open up the bag and just let it reek throughout the store. Then, all of a sudden I’d have 10 new customers. I’d get the guy behind the counter selling weed to all his guys coming in the shop. Just from that one little stench. You roll forward, you walk into the strip club, the same thing. Open it up, WOOF, same thing. You draw attention with that strain and you saw that earlier on. You just knew it was special and I knew I had to be a part of it. That’s really what took me in and got me out space I was in and put me into the weed world, as well. When you realize you can grow something that has that value or had that power you would be silly to kind of miss that train.
B: Yeah, I was just going to say that when you start to share with other people, the reactions and then, like — it basically turned into a scenario where there was never enough of it. People were trying to give you money for it before it was even harvested. Like, “please just save me an ounce. Here’s 500 dollars.” It’s not like we set the price at $500 dollars, it just became that because that’s what people were like. I’ll just pay $500 to guarantee that I’ll have one ounce of it, please. It was just a phenomenon that changed everyone’s life. I’d say we were all very struggling middle-class guys with hard-working family businesses that we were a part of. This was an opportunity to uplift our whole group of friends, our family, all types of people around us that we were able to better their lives in a way.
It sounds like it was almost craft cultivation because it was so exclusive when you guys began. Did you guys suspect that it would lead to such an influence on creative spaces?
B: We really had no idea that it would lead to that. We were just guys in our early 20’s that wanted to go hang out with the most prolific artists and we were fans. It afforded us the ability to go to those places. We realized again after some time period that it was a really creative, motivating factor. When Xzibit would call me and be like, “Record one, bro. It’s shut down until we get more Kush.” And I would tell him like, “The harvest is two weeks away.” And they would be like, “Nothing’s being made until we get more.” I don’t know if they were just trying to put pressure on me or whatever, but that was the kind of comments you get all the time. It was just nice to be regarded in that kind of circle of the most elite West Coast rappers and artists and have their respect when you walk into a room. I felt protected when I was in those spaces. I didn’t feel threatened, ever. It was really a nice experience. I was blessed.
An album like Dr. Dre’s 2001 is regarded as one of the greatest albums ever. How did you guys end up connecting with Snoop and Dre at the time to provide them with kush for their sessions?
B:Chronic 2001 came out in 1999, which is always confusing to people. They were like, “It’s Chronic 2001 but it came out in 99.” It was a futuristic title. It came out at the end of 1999. I met Snoop, Dre, and those guys through Xzibit. Xzibit was the guy that really embraced me. I met him randomly like I just took a chance. We were in the Tower Records when Tower Records were still open. There was a limo out front and he was standing in line. You could not mistake his gruffy voice. I just hit him up like, “Hey man I got this fire Kush,” and he knew about the Kush but he didn’t have any access to it. I gave him a little bit, my phone number, and later that day I was invited to the video shoot they were filming that day for Xzibit’s album. It was for this song called “2000.” He was doing like this presidential scene. It was cool. Then from there, I got to see a bunch of other dope video shoots. Like when they did — can’t think of it right now. My brain isn’t there. It was a really cool one with Dr. Dre, Snoop, Kurupt, Daz, Eminem, everybody was in this one video on that Chronic 2001 album. It was “The Next Episode,” I think.
“I met Snoop, Dre, and those guys through Xzibit. Xzibit was the guy that really embraced me. I met him randomly like I just took a chance. We were in the Tower Records when Tower Records were still open. There was a limo out front and he was standing in line. You could not mistake his gruffy voice. I just hit him up like, “Hey man I got this fire Kush,” and he knew about the Kush but he didn’t have any access to it.”
– Brett
Did you sit in any of the sessions for that album?
B: Yeah, I was delivering these little glass jars to the sessions. That’s what I was kind of known for always having these little glass jars of kush. I was able to sit in with Mike Elizondo, the bass player for Chronic 2001. Mel-Man, Fred Wreck, Scott Storch, and all these guys. I got to hear the [signature keys from “Still D.R.E.”] before it came out. Some of those little snippets, you never really knew what was going to happen. Dr. Dre was a master of secrecy. You really didn’t know what was happening. He really was a genius orchestrator, in a lot of ways. It’s something that sitting in the room around guys like that, I picked up on that type of mystique. I tried to inject that into our brand, as well. The way that we do things, we drop little breadcrumbs so you see what we’re doing but you don’t know. That, hopefully, creates more intrigue in that similar style and passion. I really attribute that to a guy like Dr. Dre, because he’s really the mastermind behind that style.
When was the first time you heard someone mention OG Kush in a lyric?
B: I got to say, that goes to B-Real and the “Dr. Greenthumb” song. The paging Dr. Green Thumb song, that whole song. He blew up Kush for everybody and put it on the map for Dre, all those guys. And everybody in hip-hop, the mainstream, pop culture that was really happening right now. B-Real is the Godfather of putting Kush — the first one to rap about Kush in a song. Then from there, words like Chronic and stuff like that switched to words like Kush, like, Cali Green Kush. It became no longer this category of good weed. It became like a strain-specific name that really started with me and then went into, I’d say, like Snoop and other guys like that started rapping about Kush.
“B-Real is the Godfather of putting Kush — the first one to rap about Kush in a song. Then from there, words like Chronic and stuff like that switched to words like Kush, like, Cali Green Kush. It became no longer this category of good weed. It became like a strain-specific name that really started with me and then went into, I’d say, like Snoop and other guys like that started rapping about Kush.”
– Brett
What’s your favorite track that either references Wonderbrett or OG Kush?
C: Well, I mean, mine would be one of the more recent ones. One of the more recent ones from Poo Bear. When he made two songs, specifically, or so that has the “Breathe in that Wonderbrett.” That was awesome of him to even do that for us and it’s an amazing song. I really vibe with it so I have to say I’m going to stick with that.
B: Yeah, I’ve to double down on that one with Cam. The actual song called “Wonderbrett” by Poo Bear that he did. It’s about our Papaya strain. He capsulated our vibe and our mindset of ‘do no harm’ and ‘make the world a better place’ in that song and that really set it off for me, recently.
But like back in the old days, for sure, it would be dope. Like, on the song with B-Real and Berner where they put out an album and they mentioned Wonderbrett on there. Those are amazing, those hip-hop ones, too. There are a few that are out there that I just can’t remember. I always really appreciate them when I hear them. Pink Picasso, someone just said it in a song. A lot of the Euro cats, I don’t know their names too but a lot of the Euro cats give us love out there in the rap game and be rapping about Black Orchid and Pink Picasso and stuff like that.
At what point did you guys know that the impact of OG Kush was beyond the West Coast and touching pockets of the world, even the UK?
C: Well, I mean I knew it early on. My wife, I actually met her in the UK, in London. So I was going out there. When we started growing weed early on, I was going out there. I was bringing some OG just for the few trips out there. I was starting to spread the word, on the ground floor in London, early on. That was cool to already see it out there. Even to just see, how Brett was just saying, the Euro guys, the London people, have gravitated to the brand, to the strain. It wasn’t even just OG Kush, I guess. It even kind of grew from there. But you know, you would think the most popular spots — obviously in Spain, starting to get out there and be popular, as well. Most of the hype was real, I felt, right here in California. And then it ships out to the other states. Wherever it went from there, you preferred to not really know. [Laugh]
B: That was stuff that we literally didn’t want to take part in. We were already taking too much risk just growing it here in California and you have to keep who you were a secret to the community, as well. You didn’t want to become too well known or too accessible to anybody because then you were going to get got by somebody from the street. If it wasn’t from the street, it was going to be somebody from the other side of the fence. You’d almost rather get got by somebody in the street and have a second chance at it, than get got by the cops and be out of the game completely. So, that was our kind of mentality, too. Anytime we were in a situation that had some gray area in there or we felt uncomfortable, we packed up and rolled out quick. We weren’t the type that were going to dig in and say, “Let’s just roll the dice.” We had paranoia that we had to tend to. It kept us in line.
We touched on your relationship with B-Real. What’s your favorite smoking memory with B-Real?
B: There are some good ones. When I first met B-Real, I was a fan, still am a fan. Black Sunday and all these albums I go back and listen to now still just as amazing as they were then now. When I first met B-Real, I met him at the Rainbow… What’s it called?
C: Rainbow Bar and Grill.
B: For some reason, I was thinking mountain. I don’t know why I was thinking mountain.
C: On Sunset Boulevard.
B: Yeah, on Sunset. It’s this patio right on the main strip. All of our friends would be in up-and-coming bands that would play next door at the Whiskey and these other spots that are right there, and the Key Club. I’m standing on the street right there and I go on to the patio right there and my other buddy, Matt, had already kind of linked up with B-Real and was giving him some of the Kush that I was growing.
At that point, I was kind of a little bit ahead of the pack on the cultivation in our group. It was the showpiece-type-jar that you’d want to go see B-Real with. He was already linking up with B and we went on that patio, it’s an outdoor patio, and they started rolling up like right there. This is the late 90’s, like ‘98, ‘99. This is out of the ordinary. You don’t smoke in public but, B-Real had that type of card in public where he could just sit there on the patio, put a big bag of weed on the table at the restaurant and just roll up and pass joints to everyone he wanted. That was that moment when I was like this guy’s got some clout, right now [laughs]. Like, this is crazy. I’ve seen cops walk by and be like, “Oh it’s B-Real,” and they would just ask and they let it go. He just had that — when you’re with B-Real and you’re smoking weed, you can be in a state like Texas where it’s a hundred percent illegal and they’ll be like, ‘Don’t smoke’ and [he’ll light up] right in their face and blow it.
He doesn’t get enough credit for the advocacy that he did and the risk-taking that he took. Like he was like Bob Marley, you know, just a different genre for guys that smoked big joints on stage. B-Real and Bob Marley are definitely the guys who deserve all the credit for smoking big joints on stage first.
Have you ever smoked the one-ounce joint with B-Real?
B: I haven’t. I’ve seen him do it many times in front of me and I’m always just like man okay, I’ll hit it once or twice, but this is just crazy. It’s just so much smoke. I’m a heavy smoker, but not that kind of heavy smoker. I’m someone who smokes consistently throughout the day, but not in large massive doses like that. It’s definitely a party joint. That’s the New Year’s joint. Every once and a while you go that way.
How did you guys connect with Russ for the CHOMP strain?
B: Last year, at the beginning of summer, Russ and his guys were in California. We had kind of crossed paths. They were talking about wanting to do a strain and it kind of just started there. We started linking up over the summer, like two, three times for him to come to the grow. We were showing him the crosses and the phenos that we were hunting and giving him the ability to look through genetics and be a part of the process of selection. It kind of just improved from there. It took a long time to get the right genetic, it took him about a year to select it, which in our world isn’t a long time, but it is in the Wonderbrett universe because we have many genetics that we’re constantly testing. The cross that he picked was actually crossed three years ago in seed-form, but it took us about a year to even get to those seeds to pop them, and then we started talking right in the middle of that process. He kind of came in and to the situation at the right time to link with us and become part of the breeding process. The pheno-hunt process. He’s just a fun dude to hang out with and really down to Earth. It was cool to work with someone that you respect, especially since it’s great music, too.
Via WonderbrettFor someone like Russ, who isn’t a connoisseur of cannabis like you guys, can you tell me about what you learned from working with artists like Xzibit and B-Real that you applied to this collaboration?
C: Me and Brett are pretty good at understanding the feelings which cannabis can give you. And obviously, everyone’s endocannabinoid system is different and is going to react a little bit differently. Overall, the terpene profile and the THC amount should ultimately still give you some sort of effect you can kind of plan on.
Specifically with Russ, as we mentioned earlier, yeah it’s in interesting collaboration on some fronts because we’re a pretty heavy smoking brand and we’ve been here for a while, and then to partner with someone who publicly says he’s not the biggest smoker, but he’s also not publicly, really said he smokes all the time in the studio. So, there is a little bit of a disconnect there that Russ is a pretty decent smoker. He just doesn’t smoke in public, but he really likes smoking and making music. So that’s what we kind of focus on. Okay then, so you really want something that is creative, that’s not so, so heavy couch lock-y, that’s going to give you a really nice vibing feeling.
“There is a little bit of a disconnect there that Russ is a pretty decent smoker. He just doesn’t smoke in public, but he really likes smoking and making music. So that’s what we kind of focus on”
– Cameron
There are those different genetics and there are different characteristics within that. So, we ultimately just kind of threw that pheno hunting process through the breeding. We kind of knew what the parents were, and we were kind of looking like, ‘We’ve smoked a few different genetics. Let’s let Russ kind of take a look at these and experience these and see what he likes and what he vibes with on these few different phenotypes.’ Other collaborations that we’ve done in the past or really just working with other artists, aren’t so much specifically to give them their own strain to just smoke for a certain time.
That’s why it was a unique collaboration with Russ. It was specific to him. He was looking for something for him, like, this is what I do in the studio, this is kind of my lifestyle. Let’s have this type of approach for it. We’re like ‘Great, that works awesome for us too, like let’s create this studio weed.’ Maybe it’s not for everybody, but it’s what Russ likes to smoke in the studio. It was a very interesting kind of cool collaboration to do with a different approach. A lot of people are, we’ve had this resistance in the space where people will relate value to THC amount. Well, how much money am I spending for how much THC I’m getting? We’re really trying to break that stigma soon. It’s a hard education to really push forward. It’s not just about what that number is on that box. You got to experience it, see what the flavor is. See what the terpenes do. See what it all collectively does for you and see how you feel. People have to give it that chance. We hope Russ will kind of help break that barrier off. That stereotypical, “Hey you have to be this heavy stoner to enjoy weed.” No, there are all different types of stoners. All different types of uses. Russ is a specific type that likes to smoke weed in the studio with this type of cannabis. So maybe, there’s something out there for you, too. You don’t have to go out there and smoke the heaviest strain and sit on the couch you can actually maintain a lifestyle that best fits you.
For sure. How does a collaboration with Russ, who stated he’s not the heaviest public smoker, compare to someone like B-Real? How are those conversations with those people who understand the plant very well?
B: Very interesting conversations. Here’s the thing, cannabis is so subjective. Everybody’s got their own feeling and opinion about everything. It’s why we offer so many wide arrays of flavors. It’s like a restaurant. Try to bring something to the table for everybody who’s looking for something that’s tailored to them. One thing that is common in all our genetics is that we try to pick something that’s always creative. We try to pick something that is energetic, stimulating, in all these facets. Cam and I are very high-energy, hard-working, go-go-go type people all day. We like cannabis that is motivating, creative. I think that those things lie within unique flavors and within the processing and approach of how you do all these things. The consumer is going to ultimately decide what’s best for them, at the end of the day. We just want to give them the best options. We don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into, “Oh we’re the OG guys from the old school. All we do is have that knock-you-on-your-face-rapper weed.” Like no, we have that, but we have the other stuff, too, for the guy that’s like, “Yeah, you know what? I’m going to sit down and do my accounting book and do math for the next two hours, but I’m going to be stoned, too, and do that.” Or “I’m going to sit down and make music for the next four hours” or “I’m going to go to the gym and get stoned before I go too because it motivates me to my workout, the focus.” Having those conversations with guys that are like that, I just go, “Dude, there’s another one on the menu, I know that you like.” I can’t make everybody happy with every strain. It’s just not possible.
C: I think that kind of lands to the collab, as you were saying. The difference between B-Real and the difference between Russ is the same thing. As a brand, we don’t want to be put in that, “Hey we only work with super, hardcore stoners all the time, too.” Now, as a brand, we don’t feel like we need to work with everybody, as well. We say no. We chose Russ. We chose Russ also because it fits a certain demographic of our company. It made sense to us, in that manner. Now, it’s not going to make sense to the people who only think we should be doing collaborations with guys who are like B-Real, who’ve been stoners their whole life and all they do is live and die weed. It seems like that’s what people kind of want with cannabis brands, especially legacy ones, as we like to call ourselves. We’ve been here for that long. We’ve also been the inclusive type of people. Our company is built on that. Every race, every type of person, whoever. Do you want to be a part of our company? Come be a part of it. Do you want to enjoy our cannabis? Come enjoy our cannabis. We’re not going to say, “Hey, this is only for this type of people and this is only for this type of people.” Wonderbrett is a representation of Brett and me to the core, that it really is the way that we view weed. The way we view weed should be delivered to the people, and the people that we want smoking our product too, which is everybody who wants to smoke it.
OG Kush has obviously been the base for a lot of these new strains coming out, whether it’s Girl Scout Cookies, Headband. Outside of the WonderBrett lineup, what are some personal favorites that you guys enjoy?
B: Hard to get strains. Like, ones that aren’t in the public. Grower friends of ours refuse to put out because they’re stubborn. I gotta give a shout-out to my guy BG up north. You got that Root Beer, you holding on to it tight like he doesn’t want to let anyone have it. It’s a nice strain. A kind of strain like that people are doing it for the love, they’re just doing it that way, small scale. That’s the stuff outside of our line-up that I would go out of my way to get still. Other than that, what Cam and I make together, I feel like, is pretty satisfying.
C: Yeah, it’s tough to even answer that question because, specifically, for the past few years we’ve been breeding ourselves and creating our own genetics. Early on, that kind of was our approach. Like okay, we have OG Kush, but what else is how out there? What else do we like? We put the time in, as Brett mentioned earlier in our conversation, too, he will drive for a fucking day to go find a genetic.
We’re constantly on the prowl to see what’s hot, what’s new, to go grab and see if it’s worth trying to put it into our lineups, as well, or breed into it, but our head’s been down. At least for me, I can’t even give you an answer of what genetic I like because my head’s been down on our own stuff so much. I don’t even know what the new hypes out there. Hell, I don’t even hear Runtz again [laughs]. It seems like that’s made it’s run, you know. It’s like “Hey, what’s the next strain we’re going to put out” will be the one going that we will be looking for.
B: WonderRuntz bro. Don’t hold back, dawg. It’s coming. The people want it.
Brett, coming from a catering background, where do you guys think these worlds of cannabis and culinary arts are going together?
B: I think there’s a real bright future for the two of those going together in the pair of things. We’ve touched on it a few times with the Cannabis Supper Club and some of the events we’ve done. People are going to say, “No, Bong Appetit did that first.” Bong Appetit did pairings of pies and certain things like that. I think where we’re a little bit different about it on the culinary side of cannabis is how we identified so many flavors of cannabis that are so true to a food that is out there. Like, if it’s strawberry or lemon or orange. The way that people can identify that is one thing that WonderBrett has done that’s a little bit different than some of the other culinary and cannabis things. Really trying to make it super evident that when you’re smoking a strawberry flower and eat you some strawberries, side by side, you’re like, “Wow this is an amazing combination together.” That’s one of the favorite ways for me to start my day off. Take a dab of blueberry and eat a handful of really fresh blueberries. Or a strawberry banana smoothie with the strawberry flower or the concentrate of the strawberry. Those types of true-to-life pairings are the things that are really going to make people’s light bulbs go off in their head and really get it. When people think of cannabis dinners and stuff like that, they’re just thinking of edibles, getting super high at some dinner, and being scared actually of edibles. We’re trying to pair smoking experiences that taste amazing and delicious that go with the flavors of the actual fruits and desserts that we are repping in our strain.
C: We’ve definitely done that with the Cannabis Supper Club. Our guy Mark over there is putting on a pretty good couple of events that we’ve worked with these past couple of years. Bong Appetite, that was their approach like, let’s infuse. Infuse the food and cook it and eat it. That’s a very unmanageable, sometimes, experience. You don’t really quite know what you’re going to get. The amount, the milligram amount, the dosage, and all of that. So, what we like to do is go out and do what we’ve done in the past. I was never a big edible guy, but I’d sure as hell love to roll me a fat joint, order me a steak dinner or whatever, sit down and start eating that food and smoke the joint. And you’re like, ‘Oh wow, this actually OG Kush really does go nice with this steak.’ You’re like, man, that flavor. I feel those two, they play well with each other.’ And you’re like, ‘Oh, yeah? Let’s smoke this lemon afterward and we have this drink right here and that really goes good together.’ We’ve tried to curate that the best we can and want to push that forward, as well. You get that experience of our product, get the nice packaging and then you get a really nice meal. Then we like to say, “Hey, smoke this strain right here after you eat this course and see the taste, flavor profile.” See what it accentuates, see what it does. That’s how we’re really trying to blend that experience. Brett also put out an album, a little EP album, a couple of months back. WonderBrett’s just instrumentals, right? It’s like, ‘Here. Listen to this while you smoke our weed also, get this vibe.’ Just kind of that same kind of thing, just trying to complete the circle of life. Not, “Hey you can smoke this, you can listen to this music. You can smoke this, you can eat these foods and this is how we like to do it.”
I know there’s a lot of people that do wine and good. That’s obviously a lot more culturally acceptable. In terms of pairing flavor profiles, I feel like that, to me, should be the future of cannabis, right?
C: So, let us go ahead and plug up the edible line that we have coming out. We’ve been working hard for the past year or two to nail down the type of edible that we want to release. We veered away from the gelatin gummy because that just doesn’t line up with the brand experience that we want. We’ll be releasing full-fruit vegan puree chew if you will. WonderBrett Chew, that’s going to be hash infused. That will be solventless infused and we got strain specific. We’re taking our Pineapple OG, we’re washing that, we’re taking the rosin from that wash and we’re infusing that into the chew. So, now you can start to really kind of know your high, as well, from the specific chew. It’s not just distillate that you’re getting. You’ve got a nice 10-milligram fruit chew now that’s amazing, organic, full-vegan, fruit puree with solventless hash in it that’s strain-specific, too. Those will be coming out in the next few months. That’s what we’ve been waiting for. This is the experience we want to give as far as edibles now.
“We’ve been working hard for the past year or two to nail down the type of edible that we want to release. We veered away from the gelatin gummy because that just doesn’t line up with the brand experience that we want. We’ll be releasing full-fruit vegan puree chew if you will. WonderBrett Chew, that’s going to be hash-infused.”
– Cameron
Is that an exclusive right there?
C: Yeah, it might be.
B: Yeah, that definitely hasn’t been talked about before. That’s a brand new one. It is going to come out, we’re hoping in less than six weeks, but everything we do does take a little longer like Cam said because we really try to do it to a level of professionalism where there are no kinks in the armor. Again, that’s another thing too I got to go back to. No kinks in the armor. That’s a phrase that Dr. Dre, you know, I heard him say. I repeat that through life all the time because that’s how they do their music. When they put it out, you hear Dr. Dre mix or any of that kind of stuff, there’s just no kinks in the armor. You’re like that’s it. It’s been gone through. It’s tight. That’s how our approach is, too. There’s not going to be a kink in the armor when it comes to those fruit chews that come out. They’re going to be perfect from day one. It won’t be like, ‘Oh, these were good then they changed them in six months to something better or whatever. They’re going to be straight.
We’ve been discussing the WonderBrett Universe which is its own little world within cannabis. Who are some artists that you hope to collaborate with in the future? In terms of rappers and street artists that you feel fit perfectly in the universe of WonderBrett.
B: Rihanna and Rihanna [Laughs].
C: We’re very careful. As we said, we took our time with Russ. It’s a hard thing to spew out because it really needs to have alignment. We do feel that going forward, a lot of our focus on collaborations, and the attention will be more so on just genetics. It’s like the CHOMP line is an amazing strain on its own. Now, because we do have Russ that loves the strain and it definitely adds that oomph to it as well. Just the genetic on its own has its own strength and power. Those more would probably be our focus because those are more true to space, right? You don’t want to just stick a name on a strain and put it out there. It doesn’t do good for the artists and it doesn’t do good for us as a brand. As these relationships mature in the space, as artists become more involved in the cannabis industry wholeheartedly those marriages will form on their own. Obviously, the most popular and biggest people, we always love to talk to and appreciate them wanting to be in awe with our company and we’re always open to that. It does need to have meaning behind it if we’re going to do any kind of collaboration.
B: Yeah I agree. I say Rihanna because she’s just such a true smoker and I love the music. Right there, there’s some alignment already of true authenticity. That you want to work with. She’s in her own right the female queen of cannabis, in certain senses and the way people look at her in the cannabis space.
We haven’t worked with any athletes yet, either. I would love to hit that space in a different way, too. It seems like it’s been hard for athletes to [get into the space] because of their big contracts. Because of Nike, the NBA, NFL, like not allowing it. But now, the NBA, the NFL, they’re allowing it. It’s becoming far more mainstream. Maybe, there’s a day where we can get somebody like a LeBron James or somebody like that in that caliber. Again, they would have to want to do it and be a part of that process of the pheno hunting and being involved in it. It’s not just us wanting them, they have to want to be a part of it, as well, to make it organic and real. LeBron is a major star but no one thinks of LeBron as some partier or smoker. He’s like Hercules out there or something.
Did Lil Wayne and Denise Bidot just get married? It definitely seems like that much is possible judging from Tunechi’s latest tweet.
The couple recently stepped back out after months of inactivity on social media, showing off their oceanside fun by drawing a heart in the sand and writing their names inside. At the time, fans were surprised to see that they were still dating after such a dramatic turn of events following Wayne’s endorsement of former President Donald Trump. When he pledged his support for the former President, things turned ugly with his model girlfriend, who teased a breakup on her pages. Now, with Wayne’s latest post, it seems like they either got engaged or married this week.
“Happiest man alive! Today is the beginning of our forever,” cryptically wrote the rapper on Twitter. “Forever?? Forever, ever?? FOREVER EVER!!!!! The Carters.”
We’ll wait for confirmation that Denise Bidot is officially Denise Carter before sending any congratulatory messages but it definitely looks like we could be heading in that direction. As for Denise, she’s currently not on any social media platforms so she hasn’t spoken on this publicly.
Do you think Lil Wayne and Denise Bidot just got married?
Previously, Wayne was married to Toya Johnson from 2004 to 2006. He was also previously engaged to singer Nivea and model La’Tecia Thomas. Wayne also has a son with actress Lauren London. Denise Bidot has said that she hadn’t been in a relationship for ten years before meeting Wayne.
