On September 16, two legends of West Coast weed, B-Real and Cheech Marin, joined forces for the grand opening of the Cypress Hill rapper’s newest Dr. Greenthumb’s dispensary in Los Angeles. It was a quintessential LA affair: Chevy low-riders parked out front, fans meeting with Cheech—who was selling his new THC-infused, canned Micheladas—and appearances by local brands like True Classic OG.
With a giant mural and platinum albums hanging in the entrance, the new store pays plenty of tribute to Cypress Hill. It’s only fitting; the dispensary chain owned by B-Real is, of course, named after the group’s iconic 1998 song.
The dispensary on Wilshire Boulevard in LA’s Brentwood neighborhood features more than 40 brands. At the opening, the Dr. Greenthumb brand dropped its latest product offering—a 5-pack of hash-infused pre-rolls that are 80% cannabis, 20% hash and contain 3 grams total. They retail for $35.
Leafly asked B-Real for his favorite strains right now, and he gave us a handful: RS-11; Ripped Off Runtz; Super Chief by Redline Reserve Genetics; and the upcoming Lithium from his brand Insane.
Keep reading for more photos and details below.
Cypress Hill spent the summer performing special sets for the 30th anniversary of its classic album “Black Sunday.” The group released an expanded edition of the album this July. They recently performed alongside the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, an idea they got from an episode of The Simpsons. B-Real said they also plan to release more music next year as well.
In the meantime, the rapper known for his brash, nasally vocals plans to keep expanding his weed empire.
Dr. Greenthumb’s will open more stores in greater Los Angeles and surrounding areas, including in Van Nuys and Oxnard, by spring of next year, according to the chain’s head of marketing, Kim Barker.
“We didn’t just wanna open up anywhere and everywhere,” B-Real said. “We wanted to make sure we had a strong presence in these places.”
The company plans to branch out-of-state for the first time in 2024 with two new stores in Michigan, following the launch of the Insane cannabis line there.
The grand opening represents another win for B-Real—a former child soldier in a gang, who took a bullet to the lung when he was 17 years-old. He said it took just one music studio trip to open his mind to an alternate world: One where he would go on to become a cultural icon and leader.
“It’s crazy growing up here. And for a lot of us, you don’t think you have opportunities,” he said of his childhood in LA. “It took one time for my mind to be opened.”
He said he hopes kids today use tech to find alternate lanes – for a path toward a better life.
“While I was in the gang culture, I was very close-minded to anything other than soldiering,” he said. “[Today], if maybe they’re not good at sports or music, there’s other things to get them into – to pull them out of that shit,” he said.
Cypress Hill’s ground-breaking SNL performance turns 30
October 2nd marks the 30th anniversary of Cypress Hill’s one and only Saturday Night Live appearance. They defied the show’s orders, and the law, to blaze one on national TV in ‘93 back before even medical legalization.
“We’re a hip-hop group but we had a very punk rock metal mentality because that’s what we grew up listening to,” said B-Real at the Dr. Greenthumb’s opening event.
“So when we went on SNL, we’re like, ‘We’re gonna light these joints, and we’re gonna represent, and we don’t give a fuck,’” he said. “That was the mentality: ‘We’re just gonna fucking do it. Whatever the repercussions are, we don’t care.’”
“Our mentality, with everything we did, was ‘We don’t give a fuck if they like it or not,’” he said.
It was an act of agitprop straight out of the playbook of the Yippies. One of Cypress Hill’s mentors, weed activist Jack Herer, took the same approach.
“Jack was our mentor. He taught us what we knew,” B-Real said. “So we were putting that information out there, sort of planting the seeds.”
Thirty years in, the seeds of Dr. Greenthumb’s crop continue to yield.
