Officially adding store owner to his resume, which includes rapper, producer, actor, and symbol of West Coast hip-hop culture, Snoop Dogg opened his first licensed cannabis dispensary this month. The rapper’s cannabis dispensary, dubbed S.W.E.D. for Snoop’s popular catchphrase and a lyric from his track, “The Next Episode,” with Dr. Dre – “Smoke Weed Every Day.”
The new shop opened earlier this month near LAX airport, offering Los Angelenos and visitors a glimpse into the hip-hop legend’s world and a new option for legal marijuana purchases. Just like all cannabis dispensaries, S.W.E.D. offers regulated cannabis products that include flower, pre-rolls, concentrates, and more. However, S.W.E.D. also features other elements of hip-hop culture, which consists of an area dedicated to Snoop’s groundbreaking album Doggystyle, as well as classic Snoop musings handwritten on a graffiti wall and smoke-free DJ booth where the artist can spin records while smoking, helping round out customers’ experiences at Snoop’s new shop.
Last year, Snoop Dogg launched Death Row Cannabis, introducing new weed products that were made available at dispensaries operated by Cookies, a cannabis brand headed by fellow rapper Berner. However, the busy entrepreneur hit another major milestone this month with the launch of a limited-edition line of Death Row Cannabis products that honor the legendary rapper 2Pac, who was gunned down in Las Vegas in 1996.
Joining Death Row Records in 1995, 2Pac, born Tupac Shakur in 1971, quickly claimed his place in hip-hop, becoming a powerful voice for social change that can still be heard today. During his posthumous induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, Snoop shared that 2Pac had given Snoop his first blunt.
“That first blunt sparked a friendship that ran deep,” Snoop remembers in a statement from Death Row Cannabis. “We’ll always have his music, but this is another way I can bring what was meaningful to 2Pac to his fans.”
In 1993, with his breakout album, Doggystyle, Snoop Dogg became a fixture of Death Row Records, with the album debuting in the top spot of the Billboard 200. However, in 2022, Snoop took control of the pioneering record label, vowing to restore it to its former glory, championing artists, hip-hop, and cannabis culture.
At the time of his takeover, Snoop stated, “I am thrilled and appreciative of the opportunity to acquire the iconic and culturally significant Death Row Records brand, which has immense untapped future value… It feels good to have ownership of the label I was part of at the beginning of my career and as one of the founding members. This is an extremely meaningful moment for me.”
Death Row Cannabis’ limited-edition honoring of 2Pac features jarred cannabis flower, with customers also receiving one of four never-before-released collectible photos of 2Pac in front of a Death Row Records wall covered in graffiti and a matchbook recreated from the photo shoot.
The exclusive release of Death Row Cannabis’ 2Pac products became available in select California dispensaries on July 19th, with a planned release later this year in Michigan.
For those looking to check out the rapper’s new dispensary, you can head to S.W.E.D.’s location at 5494 West Centinela Avenue.
