Max Bell doesn’t always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers warm Dos Equis.
There’s a science to making a good weed song, or at least one that’s loosely weed related. On the surface, it seems easy. Devin the Dude has made killer “coughee” cuts for years. But at the end every year only a few remain (Kool John’s “Full of Dat Weed” is still great). How many Wiz Khalifa songs about the sticky icky just don’t stick?
In any case, Dogtown’s Warm Brew is on to something with “Wanna Get High.” As with every decent weed track, much lies in the production, a sonic quality that creates the headspace akin to smoking some headband. Produced by TeQnitionZ, “Wanna Get High” is best on the loudest speakers at your disposal. The bass is heavy and the keys create the swirling, spaced out feeling I expect from my medical.
In terms of songwriting nothing is revolutionary, yet all is necessary. The hook is simple and catchy: “When I wanna get high / Nigga, I hit up my folk / buy blunts in bulk / submerge in that smoke.”
If you’ve been following Warm Brew, you’ll know that Ray Wright is nearly always the smoothest and most charismatic rhymer of the group. Channeling Nate Dogg and Bone Thugs, he handles hook duties and delivers another solid verse. Upcoming L.A. MC Hugh Augustine is on guest verse duties, and delivers with confidence and energy. In the end though, I’m always partial to Manu Li, whose nod to Reasonable Doubt Jay-Z at the end of his verse is appreciated in a world where Magna Carta…. exists.
The video has the craziest tree houses in Los Angeles. Ounce upon ounce of green, blunt after blunt and eye candy. Some might call Warm Brew derivative. But if Joey Bada$$ gets a pass to rip off everyone down to Mic Geronimo, then Warm Brew get one to put their own spin on ‘90s G-Funk.
The group’s latest project, The Ride, just dropped gratis via Bandcamp (below the jump). As is the case with “Wanna Get High,” their album has some solid rapping and head nodding, laid-back production from the likes of Danny Dee, Al B Smoov, Lord Quest (Schoolboy Q’s “Figg Get Da Money”) and DJ Dahi (Kendrick Lamar’s “Money Trees”). Start with “Man With the Horn,” “Loungin,” and “We Don’t Know” (featuring Azizi Gibson). The rest is up to you.
Listen/Download:
