Born Alvin Nathaniel Joiner, Xzibit is an American musician, rapper, actor and now cannabis mogul. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, he began rapping at 14 because his parents did not approve of rap and would not even let him listen to it, so he decided the next best thing was to write his own. It took coming to California, being consistent and meeting the right people that made him take it seriously. He’s made his mark in the entertainment industry, about to release his 8th studio album, and now he’s making his mark in the cannabis industry with a full line of products available in California.
How did you get into the cannabis industry?
“Coming from the music world, it was a natural progression (because we were doing it before it was legal). It was good for me to put my footprint there, for what I believe are great cannabis products. We found some great partners. Everyone seeks out the good, and the best for your buck and that’s what we do. Music and cannabis go hand in hand, it’s part of the creative process. Writing music or going to a concert. It’s relaxing and really relieves stress.”
Why come out publicly now?
“I was doing it before it was legal, smoked publicly. Smoking is not a big deal to me, what may be a big deal to a lot of others; I see it as helping a lot of people. Whether it stays medical or goes recreational here, it’s here to stay.”
How did LOL Taffy get started?
“A friend of mine came up with the idea of making an edible. Going back and forth we wanted to be original going to market, he wanted to make the taffy. Sounds great right? How hard can it be? What happened was, as we started getting into the process, more and more to the point of no return, we found out that it’s very difficult to find taffy machines here in America. They’re either really old or they’re connected to a store that doesn’t want to let go of it. So we had to find taffy machines in London, and then we had to have the machines flown and transported back over here. Then we had to convert them from UK voltage to US voltage… It was a mess. We hadn’t even made one piece of taffy yet! And we’re already in!
It was pretty crazy to get the process started, but once we got it started, we really enjoy what became of it. We first started with a bar, then we got some feedback from the people that had it and then it was like, okay we have to make some adjustments. We believe we have mastered what it is to make this type of medicated taffy out there. I believe this is the best tasting, it’s the strongest dosage. Getting the formula to get it evenly distributed was a nightmare, but we did it. So I don’t give a f**k, this s**t is going to the people! We worked hard for this; you guys are gunna get LOL Taffy!”
So they’re 40mg for the single dose?
“I would be careful with them, eat half first, see how you feel, and then if you want to go further go ahead, but call off what you’re going to do the next day, I’ll tell you ahead of time!” (There is also a double dose flavor available.)
Which one is your favorite flavor?
“Tropical Punch and Grape Berry are our best SKUs. Tropical punch is my favorite.”
Tell us about Brass Knuckles Vapes & Extracts.
“There’s a lot of advertising out there that is not necessarily true. We pride ourselves on being a true full gram. You can extract it and look at it yourself. It’s there. We just got tired of seeing people get knocked for their hard earned cash for something that’s not truly going to market with what it promises. So we stand behind it. Our cartridges are state of the art. We put a lot of time putting the packaging and the cartridges together.”
“We pride ourselves on being straight shooters, Wink. Everything is Prohibition themed. We have 14 SKUS (flavors/strains), with Gorilla Glue and Skywalker OG being our most popular SKUs.”
“It’s a full gram. We’ve seen a lot of products with shoddy work. We spared no expense with packaging. It’s a true full gram with quality of oil going on and the first super premium pen that truly stand behind what it advertises.”
“We’re gunna get there. We’re in the play for the long run. This is not a flash in the pan. Our partners really have the same mission statement – which is to deliver.”
Why Brass Knuckles?
“It’s the brain child bunch of guys … It’s gunna knock you the f**k out.”
Tell us about your Napalm OG flower.
“Again, we found great partners, put what we felt was the best flower we could find and produce, there had to be a flower component to all of this.”
Why indica?
“I don’t like sativa. I like to keep moving. I like the OGs.”
What’s been your favorite industry out of Music, Acting & Cannabis.
“Music has been my favorite, I enjoy my time there, energy and synergy from that – everything else is based on that.”
Any favorite collaborations?
“All of them have led to something different. I would say everything from being on the Up in Smoke tour, to television to movies… Cheers to all my collaborations!”
Why infused products first?
“I don’t like to get involved with anything I can’t fully understand or ask somebody to do something I haven’t done myself. Really understanding the nuts and bolts how it gets from point A to Z, really understanding people’s roles and who does what. You gotta really understand what it is. Instead of jumping in knee deep I wanted to learn from step one and that’s where it comes from.”
Music, Acting, Cannabis – What’s more suited for you?
“All of it works together… well not all of it works together… In no way shape or form is allowed on a Hollywood movie set… at least not for me right now. I don’t think they’d like that.” (laughs)
What’s the biggest correlation between music and cannabis?
“I think it’s been a little bit of both (music and cannabis), being on the road for long periods of time… not resorting to alcohol, not resorting to prescription medicine, and being able to smoke a joint and go to sleep and relax, was something that I didn’t know was beneficial until now. That’s basically where it correlates, rapping about it, writing about it, singing about it. Some of the best songs in the world have to do with marijuana.”
How different was music 15-20 years ago, and how different was cannabis 15-20 years ago?
“Music is free. Cannabis is not. It is different; because the way music is shared… the old dinosaur way of doing business, where you had to be promoted or signed, the internet changed all that. There’s a direct connection to the fans. In doing that, now everybody has a direct connection to the fans, so they have to sort through a lot of non-sense to get to what they’re really looking for. So I think that’s the biggest difference is. With the legislature and people voting cannabis instead of being negative but rather a positive it’s going to have it transition and it’s going to be able to regulated differently and taxed differently and that’s going to raise the value, I believe, of whose involved in the cannabis industry. Now they haven’t done that for music yet, they should do that for music. They need to regulate how it’s dispersed. But then you can’t put a license or regulation on creativity, if you want to be able to sing you should be able to sing, if you want to rap, you should rap. You shouldn’t have to be subjected to it, but that’s what it is and that’s the day and age we live in.“
What’s been your favorite part of the cannabis industry so far?
“The people – being able to be around people with the same interests. It’s a great community, everybody is chill, I’ve never seen a brawl at a festival or any kind of anything and everyone is eating something (infused).”
Have you met some interesting patients?
“At the last booth event we had, a gentleman came up and was really into what we had. He was a war veteran. He had PTSD, and other issues. He had a couple of scares harming himself, and shared with us how cannabis had helped him. He was happy and walking around and he was really happy to meet me. It was just really cool to see how cannabis had helped him.”
Who is the coolest person you’ve smoked out with?
“Snoop Dogg.”
How was that?
“Frequent. Haha! That’s legendary, that’s like smoking with Bob Marley for this generation.”
Do you have a Bucket List of any one person you’d like to smoke with?
“Nah, I pretty much smoke with everybody. Yep.”
Tell us about your transition from music to acting.
“I did a TV show. From the TV show it was a matter of time. I was in a couple films. It’s been great. The acting is something I definitely had to work at. It’s different than the music. But it’s fun. It’s something that I really enjoy doing. It was an easy transition for me because I was used to being in the moment and being in front of crowds. So it was easy for me to make that transition.”
Was it ever not easy for you?
“No. No fear of public speaking, ever. It has its ups and downs. “
Music is the nucleus of everything for Xzibit. He started in the creative space for music – it’s how he communicates, everything branches out from that, it’s the cool factor. You can find his products primarily available in Southern California dispensaries. Also coming soon under the Brass Knuckles brand are extracts/concentrates, dab, shatter, crumble, you name it, they’re making it!
Get in touch:
brassknucklesog@gmail.com