As one of the original founders of the Clan (The Genius even had an album out on Cold Chillin’), this guy has never been known to require many weed carriers. In fact, songs like “Stay Out Of Bars” indicate that he was more inclined to sit with a drink and think. The late, great Ol’ Dirty Bastard held his stash once upon a time in exchange for the GZA teaching him how to rock mics (plus they were cousins).

Killah Priest put in some serious weed carrying work around the time that of the Genius’ Geffen debut, and was rewarded with his very own solo track on the CD version of Liquid Swords (aka “one of the most lyrically advanced rap albums ever made”). “B.I.B.L.E.” must have made quite an impact, as Killah was soon elevated to weed owner status with the release of Heavy Mental and the emergence of his own squad of weed holders by the name of Sunz of Man.

After losing such a great weed carrier, it seems that no one was ever able to fill Priest’s cheeba-stuffed shoes, which forced the Genius to stay at the crib more and more. This eventually led to him becoming so reclusive that by the time that the Wu started work on the Iron Flag album, GZA was emailing his verses to the studio, apparently unwilling to leave the smoke-filled confines of his apartment. Things have improved since that dark period, and although I can’t name his current stash holders, I hear that the Genius is out and about once again, getting lifted and shit and still owning his own trees
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Without a shadow of a doubt, there is no group in the history of music that has spawned more weed carriers than the mighty Wu-Tang Clan. Their legacy is so extensive that a single post could never hope to even skim the surface, so think of this as an introduction of sorts.

There are several schools of thought regarding which members are owners and who carried for who, but I have a general rule of thumb that says that if you didn’t appear on the first version of “Protect Ya Neck”, then you’re a Wu Weed Carrier (sorry Killah Priest). Due to the massive number of weed carriers that followed in the wake of the 36 Chambers album, I’ll be doing individual articles for each of the original team, plus a look at the third and fourth generation WWC’s.

Stay tuned…

When a weed carrier graduates to weed owner, what happens to the guy he used to carry for? We all know what happened between Big Jaz and Jay-Z, no homo. Unfortunately, more often than not the former carrier and his former boss have conflicts like that. The most recent example is Fiddy and Teh Ghey (aka The Gayme). Even though Teh Ghey still carried for Dre and whomever, Teh Ghey was still a weed owner - his w/c’ing squad being “The Black Wallstreet.” Although Fiddy and Teh Ghey have kissed and made up, its unlikely Teh Ghey is carrying for Fiddy anymore. Another example is Ja Rule and DMX. Ja Rule carried for DMX, and when he started ownin’ weed (The Murderers carried for him), he felt he had to establish who was the top Fake Tupac Biter. The beef continued to rage until the public stopped paying attention and no one gave a shit anymore. Even in the mixtape DJ world this type of conflicts have started: DJ Big Mike, a former carrier of DJ Kay Slay, has released mixtape which disses Kay Slay, and Kay Slay has fired back with threats of “bitch slapping” Big Mike.

Never underestimate the weed carrying possibilities of russian hats.

Not only are EPMD one of rap’s greatest ever groups, they also spawned a huge number of weed carriers. It’s not known whether or not the firing of their first two DJ’s in the space of a couple of years was weed-related, but for some reason DJ Diamond J and K-La Boss were shown the door to be replaced by DJ Scratch. Dancer/weed carrier Stezo also broke camp to persue a solo career, which resulted in an enjoyable album but little weed owning. Unfinshed Business saw the introduction of K-Solo, who was a triple threat capable of holding weed, spelling while rapping and punching people in the head.

By the time their third album dropped, the LI-bred duo had aquired the services of a young Reggie Noble - who most of you will know as Redman - to carry their boom. When the fourth album rolled around, the fellas must have had one hell of a lah habit, as they now had Das-Efx, Redman, K-Solo, Hurricane G etc. in possession of their shit. They also had the briefly had the ultimate rap accessory - token white weed carriers - by the name of The Knuckheadz. Eventually, Erick got mad when he figured out that Parrish owned a hell of a lot more weed he did, so he got some of his buddies to break into Pee’s crib to steal his stash.

Obviously, this ended the EPMD partnership, so Erick tried to assemble his own crew of carriers, dubbed The Def Squad. The problem was, by this stage Redman and Keith Murray (who came equipped with his own weed carriers by the name of L.O.D.) were so far ahead of E-Double in terms of rapping skills that he was forced to carry for them on many occassions just so he could hang out with ‘em. Luckily, Jamal from Illegal and Joe Synister didn’t mind carrying for Erick in exchange for some beats, so all was not lost. PMD was more successful in terms of maintaining his weed owner status, quickly assembling a group of no-names such as Top Quality and Nocturnal to carry his enormous stash of trees. Despite wins in this area, both of them proceeded to release some of the most god-awful solo efforts ever seen in rap since 3rd Bass went for “delf”.

Eventually there was a fake-ass reunion album and a bunch of songs with “2000″ tacked onto the end of the title, which is almost always a bad sign. Sadly, Erick Sermon now has to jump out of windows in order to get a XXL feature and PMD has been reduced to rolling with guys like DJ Honda.

Marijuana Jones adds: Erick Onasis - just remember this dude called himself “The Rap Goddess” on wax. He has had more “Aye, YO!!!!’s” than Lord Sear and Bobbitto combined. Don’t sleep on the E, ’cause yo something might rupture?? HUH?! He also rolled with a dude called Big Him…

It’s that time of year again. The people are working over time trying to sell. People are generally happier. Big fat guys are buying, and his smaller friends are helping him. Then, the gifts are carried before they are used. No, its not Christmas and New Year’s and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and what have you. Its Cuatro Veinte.

Like I said, the gifts are carried before they are used. Most blogs would deal with the usage. But not us. No…not us.

We would deal with the carrying. It’s a generally busier time for w/c’s worldwide. It’s a time when the stakes is highest, they have the most likelyhood of getting caught than your average day (due to stepped-up security, even the police knows about this Quatre Vingt, no homo), plus they are carrying more. But it’s also a time when a young, secondary w/c can deliver when it counts, no homo, and rise to primary holder, or even, if they’re real lucky, to weed owner. So competition is high. But even if a w/c does not advance in his/her holdin’ to ownin’ quest, many times, the w/o will be especially generous, often times leading to the w/c being owners for a day. To my man (no homo) Lil’ Cease and all other carriers, working overtime and risking their collective asses (no homo), thank you from all of us to all of you (no homo) for showing us the true meaning of 4/20: to achieve your dreams.

…

or to smoke weed like crazy. Whichever you prefer.

Robbie says: Check this piece from our new female contributor Marijuana Jones, who offers a much-needed perspective on the wacky-world of women weed carriers (phew! try sayin’ that fast, five times in a row while rocking gold fronts!).

First of all, gully gutter shouts to all the weed-carryin’ ladies in the house. Here’s to the ones with “weed inside they pussies with they minds on the finer things in life/Props is a true thug’s wife.” Yeah, yeah, you know: “a few bitches who fucked dreads, on Sudafed, pussies hurtin’, they did it for a yard for the feds”. Rockin’ - not lots of ice - but “four finger rings, and gold teeth, and ain’t afraid to hold” weed.

It might go back to the days of the Juice Crew. Many have pondered as to how/why Marley Marl recruited a teenage Roxanne Shante into the crew at such a tender young age. For someone (presumably) named after Marley - Bob Marley - weed ownin’ was most likely right up there with making funky music - a must. MC Shan, Craig G., and all the cats rockin with the Juice Crew were easy targets for a bust, right? But not young Lolita Golden a/k/a Roxanne Shante. She could freestyle all day, cold get retarded with Biz, and all the while have a couple of ounces stashed away for good measure, unbeknownst to the D’s. She built a bridge for the queens of weed holdin’ that came after her.

Think about it. Every new-school crew worth it’s salt has a “first lady” right? Eve - the first lady of Ruff Riders. When Jada and Holiday Styles said “I need a ride or die bitch” they basically were on some “damn, I really need a nice-lookin‚ female w/c right about no” shit. Lil Kim started out as a weed carrier with the M.A.F.I.A. Funny, because she modeled herself after one of Brooklyn’s most O.G. bitches and a sho’ nuff weed owner, the original Queen Bee. Queen Bee used to rock flashy neon-colored wigs with matching fur coats, so she was obviously on some w/o shit. But Lil Kim, the Junior Queen Bee, she loved her some B.I.G. and wasn’t ashamed to find 100 ways to stuff a couple O’s up her scantily-clad coochie to prove it.

Now, one w/c comes to mind who really would have been an owner if gender bias didn’t run shit. That would be none other than the first lady of the Flipmode Squad, yeah man, I’m talking ’bout Rah Digga. First of all, her babydaddy’s her w/c - Young Zee - so there that go. Then, she damn near dope as Bussa Bus but gotta carry for him? It’s gotta hurt. Then, just because she’s Rahshida and not Rahquan, she gotta hold for this hypeman-ass Spliff Star kid too?! Pure fuckery, I tell you.

But see, the point of this thing is that there’s even some feminism in the owning/carrying dichotomy. There are some strong women holding it down - I mean their man’s holding it (on the down low). Their weed, that is. I give you Kelis, who’s definitely the w/o of her house. Take young Beyonce, who - heaven forbid - don’t puff trees. But if she did, it’s looking like Young Hovito would “hold it for her”. Lauryn Hill. Now, whether she’s still with Rohan or not - he’s Zion’s daddy and most def a pro holder. Even with the Fugees, L-Boogie mighta held for Wyclef, but we all know Pras had to hold hers regardless.

But now, speakin on Fugee Lah, I have to give a fat shout out to my man Jon Forte, who’s currently holdin’ it down in the Fed. Hold your head, Forte. We know you ain’t ask them blonde, Paris Hilton-looking skags to hold liquid coke for you. Shit, you can’t help it if Joni Mitchell was holdin’ your trees, and these random groupies decided they wanted to hold some other shit. Fuck that! Free Jon Forte.

I can’t leave without shouting out the mother of all weed owners. Ladies and gents - Ms. Erykah Badu. She’s had mad cats holdin’ all her shit, gone off the ism. The Baduism, that is. We all know Andre 9000 was always bugged the fuck out, but after he carried for Badu, it was a (head)wrap for son in the clothing department. I think he had Cee-Lo hold some of hers for him on the low a couple times, because look how he started wearing pink feather flamingo pants? Now all these backpackers are back jocking Common Sense, but it’s in the not-so-distant past that he was carrying mad isms for Badu and wearing manpris and floppy hats. Last I heard she had the D.O.C. holdin’ for her out in TX, and he was already funky enough before he hit the Baduism. I’m saying, her w/h’s and w/c’s go On & On. Shit, the only dude who ain’t hold for Erykah is M-1 from dead prez. Just goes to show you, dpz are from the old-school when it comes to holdin‚ and foldin‚, carryin‚ and marryin’.

So who am I holdin’ for? I pity the fool, B. Don’t play yourself. You know I’m the w/o!

You gotta give props to the dub c’s in the world. The good ones are loyal and willing to take one for their weed owner (no homo). Lil’ Cease, for example, is a great example of a good w/c. His services for the Notorious B.I.G. (RIP) have led to Cease being rather well-known, despite his lack of success as an artist. He also carried for 2Pac (RIP), or at least was in a situational w/c’ing role with him. After Biggie’s death, Cease maintained his loyalty to Biggie by carrying for the new Junior M.A.F.I.A. leader, Lil’ Kim. It’s reports like this which fill my heart with inspiration (no homo):

Lil Cease was in court last week to answer to charges of possession of marijuana.
…
Cease and Larceny were rolling in Lil’ Kim’s 1999 Jaguar and were stopped after narcotics officers saw Cease come out of a building with an undisclosed amount of weed in a bag.

I wish I had a friend like that. No homo. A weed carrier is a successful man’s (or woman’s) best friend. We hope that one day Cease will be a weed owner who introduces us to more weed carriers who have studied under the master.

NWA had no shortage of weed carriers during their reign at the top, and most of it’s members continued to be weed owners during their solo careers. The diggy-diggy Dr. Dre started out carrying weed as a member of the World Class Wrecking Krew, who despite making some good songs such as “Cabbage Patch” spent too much time on sappy love jams decked-out in fruity lace shit that even Prince wouldn’t fuck with. When the late, great Eazy-E recruited Dre to make beats and carry weed for him, Dre jumped at the chance, taking the opportunity to bring his own weed holder along for the ride (DJ Yella).

As the group started to blow-up, many of the crew’s early weed carriers soon found themselves replaced by more talented holders, which explains why Ron-De-Vu and Arabian Prince got cut. Ice Cube and MC Ren were both happy to carry Eazy’s weed for a while, but before long, Cube got restless and went to New York to carry for Public Enemy and The Bomb Squad for a minute (at least long enough to get a New York-sounding record out of ‘em).

Ren continued holding for Eazy, and even employed Boss Hogg (aka CPO) to carry Ren’s stash. Hell, even DJ Yella had weed carriers at one stage! (Yomo & Maulkie, anyone?). NWA as a whole also spawned several weed carriers who worked for the whole group, such as Above The Law, the D.O.C., Michel’le etc. The least talented of these weed carriers was Tarrie B, an Italian broad who modelled her look on Madonna and was really, really awful at rapping, but was able to carry huge quantities of weed through airports and such without any trouble.

By the time NWA fell apart, Dre had found a new guy to carry weed for - Suge Knight. For some reason, Dr. Dre seems to enjoy being both a weed carrier and weed owner at the same time, as during his Death Row stage he had a young Snoop Doggy Dogg holding for him, as well as The Dogg Pound, Rage, RBX, the D.O.C., etc. Not to be outdone, Ice Cube had also gathered an extensive group of weed carriers to serve under the Street Knowledge umbrella, including the Lench Mob, Del, Yo-Yo, Kausion, Kam and K-Dee (who had been in the group CIA with Cube in the early days). Since he goes through weed carriers at a frightening rate, it wasn’t long before Cube had fired that entire group and enlisted WC (for whom Coolio carried weed as a member of The MADD Circle) and Mack 10 as his official holders (aka Westside Connection). By this point I stopped paying attention, so I have no idea who’s been holding for him in recent times, although I think there was a guy called Short Khop or something.

Post-NWA, Eazy enjoyed the services of Bone Thugs-N Harmony, as well as weed carrier lifers such as BG Knoccout, Dresta and some other guys I forget. Dre has soldiered on, and now has everyone from Eminem to the G-Unit to The Gayme (who also carrys weed for NWA, even though the group no longer exists) to hold for him, as well as studio weed carriers like Mel-Man and all the guys who appeared on Chronic 2001. From time to time he also carries for Em and 50 Cent, just because he seems to enjoy it for some strange reason (?!).

A Salute To Weed Carriers has gotten several requests to tackle the subject of weed carriers in the world of rock. While many rockers have been known to be partial to a lot more than just cheeba, some needlephobic folks still enjoy a good lah session.

Since my knowledge of rock doesn’t extend far beyond my copy of AC/DC’s Back In Black and my prized collection of Motorbooty magazines, I thought I’d reprint this great rock round-up by Ian from Sexy Results:

There’s questions as to whether rockers have weed carriers, which is kinda tough, seeing as how it’s a lot more difficult to give your mans ‘n ‘em some shine. Guest verses have a “what the fuck?” air about them that doesn’t really translate in this genre. Nonetheless, I’ll make what is likely to be a poor attempt to make thumbnail sketches of a few weed holders in the world of gee-tars (and no links because that would take forever)…feel free to add.

Gwen Stefani: No Doubt is Exhibit A of weed carrier-ness. I mean, when the lead singer goes solo without disbanding the group, that’s about as clearcut case as you can get. You know Gwen’s got a steady hand when she can convince her ex-boyfriend to hold her green.

Amy Lee: I guess since Evanescence is from Little Rock, “meth jockeys” is a more appropriate term. In fact, let’s just say that any female fronted band is comprised solely of weed carriers, although I highly doubt the members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have trouble accessing their own drugs.

Robert Smith: He’s probably had to replace members of the Cure twenty times for poor weed carrying performance, which probably explains why he outsourced to Siouxsie & The Banshees.

Courtney Love: For a while, she did a little stint carrying Faith No More’s izm, and one might say she was holding for Kurt Cobain, but I seriously doubt he’d let her hold anything except the shotgun that ended his life. Sly devil that she is, Courtney definitely got creative in her search with Hole, as we all know that women have more places to hide the stuff. Melissa Auf Der Mer has the honor carrying for two of the most notorious weed holders in rock, the other being Billy Corgan (more below), and after going through that, she has failed to exhibit weed ownership in her solo career.

Kurt Cobain: probably the most illustrious weed carrying family tree. After he died, there was so much Bobbby Brown left that Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic automatically inherited enough to go around to their minions. Krist tested out a few no-names in Sweet 75, but decided to go with Curt Kirkwood (formerly of the Meat Puppets who were up to their eyes in hydro on “Unplugged”) and Bud Gaugh (still holding postmortem for Brad Nowell) to form Eyes Adrift. And Dave Grohl must’ve liked what he saw when Pat Smear was carrying for Nirvana, so he just brought him over to the Foo Fighters, originally composed of two of Jeremy Enigk’s holders from Sunny Day Real Estate (talk about a small-time hustle) and one from Alanis Morrissette.

Thom Yorke: Got his little brother’s shitty band (Unbelievable Truth) on a major. What up, gangstaaaa?

Brandon Boyd: You know there’s a lot of sticky icky icky going around in Incubus, so the shirtless one has that Jewfro’d guitarist, a Roots weed carrier on bass and that DJ who does nothing, likely because his turntables are filled with weed. In a straight hip-hop power move, he even got his brother’s band a major label deal (Audiovent) and had a potential weed kingpin carrying for them on tour (Hoobastank).

Dave Matthews: Whatever Dave’s on, Tim Reynolds is definitely stashing it.

Scott Weiland: Actually, it’d be more fair to call STP “heroin mules.” In a shocking turn of events, the rest of the guys started Talk Show, which is notable for being the first band where the lead singer is the sole weed carrier.

Axl Rose: Shannon Hoon’s blue flanneled appearance in the “Don’t Cry” video is as hip-hop of a weed carrier move as you’ll see on this list. Of course, it’s hard to call the rest of Blind Melon weed carriers since whatever Hoon had, he was carrying it in his bloodstream. Slash and Izzy would later have Snakepit and the JuJu Hounds to hold it down for guys who make up 2Pac-like conspiracies on how Stevie Ray Vaughn isn’t really dead.

Billy Corgan: Might be the only guy on this list who started two bands specifically to hold trees.

Ben Folds: Whether his bandmates were holding is up for debate, but whether the “missing two” in the Ben Folds Five were drug mules is not. Currently moonlighting as guardian of Shatner’s stash.

Conor Oberst: Let’s put it this way: if you’ve ever been affiliated with Saddle Creek Records, you’ve held Conor’s weed and probably fucked him too.

Maynard Keenan: Not so much for the guys in Tool, put for A Perfect Circle, which is like the ‘96 Bulls of weed carriers. The roster is astonishing: two who held for Billy Corgan (James Iha in Pumpkins, Paz in Zwan), one who held for Marilyn Manson (Twiggy), another from Nine Inch Nails (Billy Howerdel) and a drummer who’s like the Mel Man of rock music (Josh Freese). Astounding.

Trent Reznor: Depending on who you believe, Marilyn Manson had Trent’s nuts on his tonsils for about five years until he went Johnny Sac on his boy. Filter, on the other hand, has indisputable weed carrier credentials.

Jack White: Hard to tell whether Meg’s holding, because on the one hand, she makes Ringo Starr sound like Neil Peart, but on the other, she has an enormous rack. Jack did have the Von Bondies hoding his stash, until the lead singer refused to carry anymore and got his ass kicked for all his troubles.

Jeff Buckley: The guy from Ours was tuning Buck’s guitars before he got on some “Single White Female” shit.

Fred Durst: He’s like the Samson of this shit. Recruited a DJ with extensive training in the field, then started his own label to have the biggest weed-holding army in rock music (Puddle Of Mudd, Cold, Revolution Smile, etc.). You saw what happened when the guitarist tried to get his own stash. Say what you will about the man’s music, but thankfully for his scrawny ass, he won’t be in prison on possession.

It goes without saying that no mention of weed carriers would be complete without addressing the Soul Assassins crew. Cypress Hill built-up an enormous crossover audience as a result of their constant weed anthems, as corny Pink Floyd fans had a new, “cool” band to provide the soundtrack to their college boom sessions. Don’t get me wrong, that first album was hot shit when it came out, but within a few years every unwashed bong-fiend at school was jocking the Latin Lingo something savage.

As their success grew, so did their weed stash, which in turn meant they needed a truck-load of weed carriers. This led to the creation of the Soul Assassins crew, which featured Funkdoobiest (aka “The Baby Cypress Hill”) and House of Pain. The House was Everlast’s second attempt at weed carrying, since he had been the token “Amazin’ Caucasian” for Ice T’s Rhyme Syndicate (yes, Ice’s weed carriers). This time around, not only was Ev holding for B-Real, Muggs and Sen Dog, but he managed to perform the unusual feat of having his own weed carrier while holding weed for other people himself! That’s right, Danny Boy and DJ Lethal (aka The Latvian Marvel) was carrying whatever weed Muggs let Everlast keep. Confused?

I guess Muggs had a pretty huge weed habit at this stage, since not only did Cypress have two groups under their wing for the express purpose of holding their weed, but he also recruited The Alchemist to produce for him and carry whatever weed he didn’t want to share with B-Real and Sen! Sen Dog also had a brother called Mellow Man Ace, who wasn’t really trying to carry anyone’s weed, which led to him falling out with Cypress and later getting hit with a pool cue by Kid Frost.

Eventually, both Funkdoobiest and House of Pain tired of their weed carrying responsiblilites, and tried to go it alone in the big, bad world of the record industry. Not suprisingly, both groups broke-up not long afterwards. The ever resourceful Lethal soon found a new weed owner to serve under, as he joined Limp Bizkit and has been happily carrying Fred Durst’s weed ever since.