Top 5: Five cannabis strains perfect for hip-hop greats

Despite Richard Nixon’s “War On Drugs”, in the US and worldwide, cannabis has still prevailed and is growing ever more popular as more and more countries sift through research to see if the plant is not as evil as it was initially made out to be.

Cannabis during Nixon’s battle was considered the best of a bad bunch. However, academics and governments alike are now beginning to question whether it is even part of that bunch. In the UK, it has moved lower and lower down the class system and (for many) it is viewed as relatively harmless. In the US, it has been legalised in many states, and across the world, CBD and cannabis-based health products have snowballed into a $30 billion industry.

With that being said, maybe hip hop is getting its “told you so” moment as more and more people are accepting perhaps it is not the devil’s plant. However, while cannabis is still the recreational drug of choice for rappers in the UK, over the past decade, things have become a bit more problematic in the US.

With southern culture really engulfing the US and becoming the norm, now lean is something that is entering the mainstream. Lean is a slang term for a cocktail that originated in Texas and has always been a popular party drink amongst gangsters and rappers in southern states. It is usually drunk out of a large polystyrene cup and is compromised of lemonade, ecstasy and cough syrup. It is usually purple in colour.

The popularisation of the drink has led to several deaths, such as the early demise of A$AP Yams from the A$AP Mob. Other prescription painkillers and sedatives have also become popular in the US, such as Xanax and various benzodiazepines. But that is not something that is popular with the greats. The greats, especially from the West Coast, smoked weed, and that’s it. In this article, we take a look at the various cannabis strains preferred by hip-hop greats.

Five cannabis strains perfect for hip-hop greats:

5. ‘Blue Dream’

This is the strain of choice for New York legend Redman. One half of Method Man and Redman, the rapper featured in the movie How High. A stoner comedy about how two mischievous underachievers, with their batch of cannabis, get into all sorts of trouble.

Redman’s favourite strain, ‘Blue Dream’, is a Sativa-dominant strain of weed. A hybrid of two Sativa strains, ‘Blue Dream’ is a combination of ‘Blueberry’ and the more well-known ‘Haze’ strains. The New York rapper has unveiled several times that he religiously smokes ‘Blue Dream’ to get his creative juices flowing.

4. ‘OG Kush’

Choice of rapper ScHoolboy Q, ‘OG Kush’ is actually popular with many rappers, including Wiz Khalifa, who, in fact, references it in many of his songs, with the track ‘Smokin On’ even being dedicated to it.

An obvious stoner, ScHoolboy Q features a lot of ‘OG Kush’ smoking in his music videos. The strain preferred by the rapper has a history. It was first grown in Florida in the 1990s when a cannabis strain from the hills of Northern California was mixed with a strain grown in the kush mountains of Hindustan. It is now one of California’s most popular strains.

3. ‘Grape Kush’

The go-to strain for Louisiana rapper and Young Money mogul Lil Wayne. This one comes as a surprising revelation, though, as one would have assumed that, being from Louisiana, Wayne would be more partial to lean. However, it seems as if the great is just hooked by the fruitiness ‘Grape Kush’.

Cannabis innovation and development company Cali Connection created this strain by combining the two popular strains that were, ‘Grape Romulan’ and ‘Pre-98 Bubba’. The result was an even more popular, fruitier hybrid that came to be known as ‘Grape Kush’. You can hear the rapper’s ode to the strain below.

2. ‘Dr Greenthumb’s Em-Dog OG’

This is the strain preferred by Cypress Hill member B-Real. With lyrics such as, “sing my song, puff all night long, as I take hits from the bong”, he truly has a passion for the plant. In fact, he has such a hankering for the herb he decided to develop his own string, and ‘Dr Greenthumb’s Em-Dog OG’ was the fruit of his labour.

His strain was derived from Cali Connection’s ‘Chem 4 OG’, known colloquially as ‘Chemdog 4’ and the now renowned ‘OG Kush’.

1. ‘Grandaddy Purple’

The strain that tops our list of varieties consumed by legends comes from the recommendation of marijuana maestro Snoop Dogg. The rapper is known for his blunt smoking and weed-blowing as much as he is known for his music. Snoop Dogg and weed go hand in hand. So if Snoop recommends ‘Grandaddy Purple’, then we know we’re in good hands.

‘Grandaddy Purple’ is regarded as an exceptional Indica cultivar. Appearing to have a purple appearance upon flowering, ‘Grandaddy Purple’ is the purest form of the ‘Grandaddy’ strain, which comes in various hybrid forms such as ‘Grandaddy Black’ and ‘Grandaddy Confidential’. However, ‘Grandaddy Purple’ is Snoop’s preference.