[INTERVIEW] Booba launches his cannabis brand: «All my business revolves around my art».»

The Duke of Boulogne continues his immersion in cannabis. Booba now launches finished products with its PRT LAB brand, THC in authorized markets, CBD elsewhere. Interview between Miami, France and Spain.

Is your foray into the cannabis industry really a surprise? What made you decide to get involved?

Booba: It wasn't really a vocation, but I've always done my business around my art and my hip-hop culture. I've always seized the opportunities I've had. Hip-hop encompasses a lot of things. There's clothes, of course, and there's a lifestyle. In fact, I've always taken the liberty and felt entitled to do anything that revolved around my art. Weed is part of my life. When I saw that Germany was legalizing, I thought things were starting to move. I contacted Julien from TH Seeds, who I've known for 30 years. He'd been suggesting doing something with us for a long time. And that's how it started.

Can you tell us more about your new products and what sets them apart from others on the market?

Julien TH Seeds: For our products that will be available in France, we only use small-scale French producers. batch made by small artisans like Jardins de Julien. We made a drastic selection of CBD varieties beforehand and I launched Julien on them, with indoor production in a controlled environment. The first batch have already arrived and are truly exclusive products, a guarantee of quality for customers.

For by-products, it's the same. For vapes, we're working with an 85% distillate of cannabinoids and terpenes derived from cannabis. It's really going to be a top-of-the-range, quality product, with equipment from Ccell.

And what about taste, Booba, did you get to choose? Did you have any requests?

Booba: I was already familiar with the work of Julien [of TH Seeds], so everything you can smell with his strains was a reference for me.

Julien TH Seeds: With CBD strains, there's less to work on genetically. But we still went to the trouble of selecting things that Booba wanted, with the tastes he wanted and the indications he gave us. And for the vapes, it's the same. He gave the tastes he preferred and what would necessarily suit him and his personality better. If he doesn't represent the product, it won't do any good.

Are you also targeting certain markets with THC products?

Julien TH Seeds: Yes, for the THC varieties, it was really he who guided me in terms of what I wanted, how the plant grows, how it is, and the effect it gives, and the final flowers we'll get.

Booba: And I didn't just want to make weed that turns your brain off, you know. So I wanted to make something for everyone. But we're not just interested in getting high. I like smoking, but I like staying active. I'm a businessman. I've got a family. I do a lot of sport. I want to be able to stay active.

Julien TH Seeds: So we made 3 varieties with different effects for each time of day. We have Game Over, which turns you off. But Mona Lisa is great for daytime. And 7G is a really good weed, it's Neville Haze Banana Runtz. There you go, it's really sweet, hazy. It really just lets you smoke something that's good and leaves you focused. It gives you a real kick.

Booba: That reminds me, as I said, all my business revolves around my art. I've done a lot of brands and the very first one I did was called Haze Project, in connection with Purple Haze. In the end, there's continuity.

Does weed help you with sports?

Booba: I think it depends on the person. Some people do sport to compensate for smoking. I do sport and use it more for recovery. Like a lot of boxers and UFC fighters. They all smoke after training for muscle recovery, for muscle soreness, and for all that, it helps them a lot.

Have you ever had trouble marketing your products?

Julien TH Seeds: No, for the time being, it's just like any other company, for the registrations, to get a bank account that accepts credit card payments on websites, it's just that it's a bit more difficult, and takes a bit longer. Booba's notoriety helps a little.

Why did you choose Berlin to launch your range, and what do you expect from your presence there and the festival?

Booba: We chose Berlin because the country has just been legalized, so we'll be able to show off all my products. And timing-wise, it makes it almost the first date of my tour. From what I understand, the Mary Jane is a big show, and as we were ready, we were right in the middle of it, so we thought we'd just get on with it.

Julien TH Seeds: With legalization in Germany, the Mary Jane show is set to become Europe's biggest, enabling us to deal directly with our collaborators and develop the varieties we'll be making for the German market. And you can legally consume everywhere, whereas in Spain, it's more limited.

And will there be continuity in the music festivals around your CBD range?

Booba Yes, of course we'll be handing out goodies and taking advantage of my presence to promote the brand. We'll be handing out CBDeeyyyyy, we'll be sampling pre-rouleyyyyy (laughter).

As a public figure, do you intend to use your voice in favor of legalizing cannabis in France?

Booba: No, I don't want to get into that. I'm not going to campaign for the legalization of cannabis, I'm going to let them do what they want, I don't want to get involved in politics. Like Alice Belaïdi. People know what she does but she doesn't want to talk about it at all. She's smart to do that.

Can you think of any celebrities who have developed their brands in Canada or the United States? Have you ever tried their products?

Booba: Yes, I know the Mike Tyson brand, Cookies too. And in very well-known varieties, I've tried Zkittlez.

Has living in Florida changed your approach to music or your business?

Booba: No, not really. And compared to the weed, it's pretty quiet here. It doesn't stink of weed like when you come out of LAX.

Beyond business, what's at stake in having your own cannabis brand?

Booba: If I hadn't known Julien, I wouldn't have gone into this business. I'm not interested in doing for the sake of doing, and just selling weed if I don't know what I'm selling. We do it because we claim to know how to do it, to do our job well, and that each product is of high quality. It's really part of my world, everything is meticulous and well done. It also has something to do with my art. Game Over is one of my titles. The Floki in CBD is a character from the Viking series, one of my favorites. 7G is the sequel to 6G, so we're already in the future. And Julien has already won prizes with our strains.

Julien TH Seeds: When he asked me, he said, «With the varieties we've made, can you take part in the cuts, like you used to?» We couldn't do the Spannabis because I was a judge. For next year, I'm going to stop to be able to present our varieties. But we started this year with the IC 420 Cup in the Flower and Breeder categories. We came first with Game Over, third with 7G, and second in Breeder with Mona Lisa.

Booba: It confirmed that we'd chosen well, worked hard, and that we're very good. And I like competition, so it's fun for me to get into it, and what's more, to win cups! Even Japanese cups if we can!

Julien TH Seeds: It would be great if we could get a top 3 finish at the Emerald Cup. It's one of the only ones I don't have with the Ego Clash. I'm confident that next year we'll be able to do it.