Marking the acquisition of Suge Knight’s Death Row Records in 2022, Snoop Dogg opened his first cannabis dispensary, SWED, named for the patented “Smoke Weed Every Day” slogan, in West Los Angeles on July 15, making a special appearance to launch the store.
Located on Centinela Avenue not far from fellow rapper B-Real’s Dr. Greenthumb’s shop, Snoop used the occasion to announce a limited-edition line of Death Row Cannabis products to honor his late bud and labelmate Tupac Shakur, starting with legendary jarred flower strain Alien OG. A total of four other phenotypes from the same genetics will also be offered, with fans voting for their favorite through a QR code, the winner making the cut for inclusion in the permanent 2Pac collection this fall. The brand will also be available in dispensaries throughout California, with a planned release in Michigan through Pleasantrees, later this year.
A series of never-before-released commemorative photos of Shakur in front of a graffiti-covered wall with the Death Row Records logo, along with a matchbook, recreated from the same shoot, will also be provided to customers with their purchase at select dispensaries via the Death Row Cannabis website.
The two hip-hop icons have a deep connection that Snoop recounted while inducting Shakur posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, remembering how the late rap legend gave him his first blunt in 1993 upon meeting at a wrap party for his movie Poetic Justice.
“On that night, ‘Pac passed my my first blunt,” Snoop noted then.
“That’s right: Tupac is the first one that got Snoop Dogg smoking blunts. See, I was a Zig Zag man before that shit. And we became very good friends quickly thereafter.”
Snoop recalled telling label founder Knight to “get ’Pac out of prison, and have him come join our team at Death Row Records."
“That first blunt sparked a friendship that ran deep,” Snoop added in a statement about S.W.E.D. “We’ll always have his music, but this is another way I can bring what was meaningful to 2Pac to his fans.”
Snoop launched Death Row Cannabis last year after acquiring the rights to the infamous label, introducing a line of weed products available at the Cookies stores, a brand headed by rapper Berner.
The new dispensary features a S.W.E.D. marquee in the shape of a California license plate with the tag line, “A Snoop Dogg Store.” The shop offers the usual line of flower, pre-rolls, concentrates and edibles, but also incorporates hip-hop iconography, including a section dedicated to Snoop’s Doggystyle album, with Snoop quotes hand-written on a graffiti wall and a smoke-proof DJ booth where Snoop can spin records. Other artifacts include the original Death Row wooden “executioner’s chair.”
Snoop joins the likes of rappers like B-Real and Xzibit – he opened a dispensary in tony Bel Air earlier this year – who've put their names on L.A. area cannabis stores. Snoop's previous company Leafs by Snoop has essentially morphed into Death Row Cannabis.
Snoop will also be opening a S.W.E.D. coffeeshop in the heart of Amsterdam next month, while he’s in Paris to cover the Summer Olympics for NBC as a correspondent alongside his pal Martha Stewart.
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