Since we were introduced to Erykah Badu in the mid-90s, the talented multi-hyphenate has been an innovator in everything from music to fashion and art. These days, she\u2019s making waves in the world of cannabis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The star, who has a cannabis company called Apple Trees, is teaming up with lifestyle cannabis brand Cookies to launch \u201cThat Badu.\u201d It\u2019s a premium line of cannabis products designed specifically for women, which is a group that isn\u2019t often directly marketed to as conversations about the use of such products can be taboo. But Badu is aiming to change that, as cannabis has become a must-have for its many uses and in its many forms. She\u2019s doing so with her product, which is \u201crolling\u201d out with pre-rolls and loose-leaf products on International Women\u2019s Day (March 8) and will soon expand to psilocybin teas (which she will name \u2018That Badu Technology\u201d) and the selling of bongs and vanity trays for rolling on Mother\u2019s Day. She\u2019s also planning a documentary called Pu\u2013y and Weed to help remove some of the stigma for women that\u2019s attached to the popularity of cannabis use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cookies <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is a ritual,\u201d Badu tells ESSENCE. \u201cIt has become a medicine, a self-medicating system. It\u2019s the safest thing that calms us and helps us align with our work, our art, our families. In childbirth it\u2019s so important because a lot of mothers use it in that ritual of childbirth and fathers, too. And not only in the form of flowers but in the form of teas in the leaf formula, lotions, creams, sprays, tinctures, food. There are so many ways you can use this herb that goes straight to the nervous system to immediately help calm it and help you become the purest form of yourself at the moment, especially if it\u2019s not abused. So we definitely want to talk about the education of it, the safety and the care that you should take with it. It\u2019s a special gift from the earth.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The four-time Grammy winner chatted with us about where her passion for advocating for cannabis began, why her line is dedicated to women, and the work she\u2019s doing to remove the taboo that surrounds talking about and consuming cannabis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ESSENCE: How did this collaboration come to fruition? I know you have your Apple Trees brand so how did you end up working with Cookies to create That Badu? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Erykah Badu:<\/strong> We started with the Apple Trees line. We manufacture paraphernalia: grinders and kits and bongs and humidors, tubes and all sorts of things that go along with the culture. I\u2019ve worked with this company called Weed Maps starting in the year 2020. And Kamel [Jacot-Bell] from Weed Maps said, \u201c[Cookies founder] Berner\u2019s trying to get in touch with you\u201d a couple of years ago. At the time I didn\u2019t have enough information or data to go into that world. I had to do a lot of research before I even called him back to see if it was something I really wanted to do and if it aligned with my brand and with my vision. We finally came upon having a conversation and here we are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you remember how you first got into cannabis? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I started out really late with everything. I was an artist who was super serious about my craft. I didn\u2019t go out to parties, I didn\u2019t drink, I didn\u2019t smoke. I did art. That was my high. That was the thing that made me feel good and aligned. I got into college and of course the culture is very heavy in college. A few people used herb and that\u2019s how I got introduced to it. Later in life, I became a doula and a lot of my birth mothers used cannabis in many ways. So the first research we did was to find out the medicinal uses of it because of course it\u2019s not just a product. I wanted to find out how I could be useful in this arena. So when I first started doing my initial compiling of my notes and questions, they all had to do with women and how we benefitted and who we are in them and I learned that the conversation is a bit taboo at times. But a lot of this information must be researched. One of the first uses of marijuana recorded is in ritual and that\u2019s how I use the medicine, in ritual. I want to push the narrative or start the dialogue about this ritual we all partake in and how we can protect the image of it and respect that sacredness of the plant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These products are coming ahead of Mother\u2019s Day. As a mom, why has it been so important for you to march to the beat of your own drum? And to do so with your kids? I love that you sing with your daughters and do photo shoots with them like you did with Puma in Vogue. Why is that important to you? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important to me because they deserve it. I don\u2019t think they should have to backtrack to relearn things or unlearn things. I think they should be fed the closest thing to the truth that they can get to help in their journey. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to me to be an aware mother who\u2019s in alignment with nature and with culture and the world. We\u2019re all learning together. Puma is an improvement on my design, as I am an improvement on my mother and she on her mother\u2019s design. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cookies<\/p>\n\n\n\n And how do you like to consume That Badu? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not a social smoker. I smoke in ritual when I need to relax. I use herb in my bath. I use it after my sauna. I use it in my shadow work, when you get up at 3, 4, 5 in the morning because it helps me connect with that part of myself that\u2019s looking for answers and searching for a stillness or quietness. It helps me to get to that place safely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I love the blue and white Chinese-inspired design of the products. I know you were hands-on with that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Mother\u2019s Day we\u2019ll introduce our teas and a bong also in this same print, made by the amazing artist Roberto Lugo. He\u2019s very influential in the pottery world. That\u2019s another way we can take the conversation even further \u2014 to the art world. And along with the bong is a beautiful vanity tray. You can roll on it, you can put jewelry on it.You can use the vase for flowers, but instead of harming flowers, I thought it would be really beautiful to encourage the gift of a dozen roses but instead of a dozen roses we give a dozen pre-wrapped and pre-rolled blunts in the vase. And if somebody gives me that, that\u2019s marriage material \u2014 or at least long-term boyfriend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Is there anything else you want people to know about this one-of-a-kind collaboration?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m just really excited to be a part of this conversation and help push it forward. I\u2019ve learned from a lot of wonderful women across the board in the cannabinoid world; women growers and owners and product creators, content creators, journalists. So many people who\u2019ve done the research are contributing to this thing because it\u2019s for all of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That Badu launches in Cookies stores in LA starting March 8 on International Women\u2019s Day, with a worldwide rollout to follow wherever Cookies is sold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since we were introduced to Erykah Badu in the mid-90s, the talented multi-hyphenate has been an innovator in everything from music to fashion and art. These days, she\u2019s making waves in the world of cannabis. The star, who has a cannabis company called Apple Trees, is teaming up with lifestyle cannabis brand Cookies to launch \u201cThat Badu.\u201d It\u2019s a premium line of cannabis products designed specifically for women, which is a group that isn\u2019t often directly marketed to as conversations about the use of such products can be taboo. But Badu is aiming to change that, as cannabis has become<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":234478057,"featured_media":149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1363,1358,1359,1367],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebs","category-entertainment","category-lifestyle","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hypehair.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/erykah-badu-performs-on-stage-at-the-oyafestivalen-on-news-photo-1587674864.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLzWz-2n","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/234478057"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150,"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hypehair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}