Pop hits for potheads

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Feb, 2002 by Sarah Gonser

Sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll have always proved to be a potent mix. Now High Times, the 28-year-old champion of cannabis, is rolling together the last two parts of that troika and hoping for some hits.

High Times Records has partnered with New York-based Caroline Distribution in a venture devoted to producing tracks by and for the ganja-toking set. The first release, the "Hip-Hop Collection, Vol. 1," features exclusive tunes by weed rappers like RZA, The High and Mighty, The Beatnuts, The Pharcyde and Black Moon--all artists who, according to a company release, truly comprehend the "special synergy" that exists between music and marijuana aficionados. "The majority of hip-hop artists smoke weed and talk about it in their music," says Mike Esterson, president of the new entity. "So basically, we negotiate a price for a track, and let the artists do what they think is best. We're not exercising creative control."

Esterson has only praise for his record-business partner, a national distributor that claims it was instrumental in developing the pre-major label careers of bands such as Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day. "We're working with a label that's not afraid of the word marijuana, or the use of it in songs."

This isn't the first time High Times has mixed it up in the music biz. In 1995 and again in 1998, the company released "Hempilation," a compilation of hazy serenades about marijuana, and raised $150,000 for Norml, The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Esterson expects to sell about 100,000 copies of the "Hip-Hop Collection." Next up: a stoner rock release and a reggae compilation.