Find out how The Forrest Gump of hip hop Ben Baller got his start in the game.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Now it's time for Cannabis Talk one on one with Blue,
Chill Grunde and Markin Craig Wasserman, the Pott Brothers of Law,
the world's number one source for everything cannabis, with special
guest Ben Faller from Icy Fresh Jewels.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hello, and welcome to Cannabis Talk one on one.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
My name's Blue.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Along Side of me are the world famous Pot Brothers
at Law and mister Joe Grunde. And you are now
tuned into the greatest cannabis show in the Country's.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
The world, I say the galaxy.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
I say, just in all the podcast world.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
That makes it good for us.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, we've got an amazing show for you guys today.
We've got mister Ben the Baller, Ben Foller on the ball.
Mister Ben Yang also known as Ben Baller. He's a magician, actor, jeweler.
I mean worked records done zal Kanye.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
He played basketball and football.

Speaker 5 (00:46):
Reside cow Bears, doing it from the Beta La Tougher
than the toughest. He's the founder of Icy Fresh Jewelers
and he creates extravagant diamond and crushing jewelry.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
I beautiful stuff. He's done crazy stuff with.

Speaker 5 (00:59):
All kinds of every He's from Kanye West straight to
I guess making that belt buckle for Michael Jackson. Were
going to talk to him and get into it all
with you. But welcome to the show, senior, Ben Baller.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
How are you, brother?

Speaker 4 (01:11):
What's up? Guys? Man? I'm good, I'm blessed.

Speaker 5 (01:14):
It's just funny to say all these things about you
like that, and you know, to think about the records
and having a great conversation with you yesterday. But you know,
take me back early, you know Ben Yang days growing
up in Los Angeles as a young you know cat
from LA going, how am I getting into this game?

Speaker 3 (01:31):
What led you to? What was first? Was it?

Speaker 4 (01:35):
You know?

Speaker 5 (01:35):
As I know we talked, you did you did the
record and he was rapping you did this and that?
But what led you to all this major success? Walk
us down that path?

Speaker 4 (01:45):
You know what, man? I just think I was a
dreamer and I think I had a you know, I
just dreamed a lot. Now I was. I was born
and actually a really small part of like an outskirt
town of LA right by East Lost, right by East
Los Angeles, and you know, to an immigrant family, and
my mom and dad worked very hard. My dad worked

(02:08):
very hard for an honorable job but didn't make very
much money. My mom worked really really hard to make
sure that we were all good, and I guess I
kind of came in when we were doing all right,
like lower middle class. My brother and sister were older,
they grew up into the true poverty side of things,
like dad going to jail because you couldn't afford a
speeding violation, you know what I mean. And this is like,
you know, in the sixties and stuff, and you know,

(02:31):
I just I picked up hip hop early on, like
late seventies, early eighties and started breakdancing, just got into DJing,
graffiti and stuff. And I was able to meet Iced Tea,
like in a eighty three ish somewhe around there. I
was ten years old. I was break dancing at the
radio stron nightclub and right by MacArthur Caark, which is
basically kind of k town outskirts, and I just grew up,

(02:55):
you know what I mean, just being a fool, just
I don't know what it was, but I don't know
what it's just, you know, he used to that movie
Good Fellas and he's like, I just always rooted for
the bad guys and that no line resonated more with
me than that ever. You know, I just always ready,
I always rooted for the bad guys. I've always caused trouble,
you know. I went to jail for the first time
when I was nine years old. They just talked about
that the other day with my sister, and.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Uh, the hell did you go to jail for at nine?

Speaker 4 (03:21):
For grand theft larceny? Mantos? I uh, And I could
have got away off the fit. My boy, his dumbass
wanted to go back and get more ship, and we
had ship in the bag. The good thing is I
had Thank god, I got arrested.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Yeah, you know, right sometimes the first time.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
But I just uh, I think once my parents got divorced,
I just think that, Uh, I just spiraled out of control. Man.
I was just I was kind of out of crazy,
you know. And then then I'm going to create town.
Back in the day, it wasn't gentrified, and it was
a heavy gang culture, and I just kind of got
caught up in that And I think the only way
to kind of get myself out of it was I

(04:02):
didn't think music was going to get out. I didn't
have no idea. I really was like, man, this is
I'm not saying I'm hopeless. Like, you know, my goals
were like, well, you know what, I could work at
Trader Joe's. I could even be part of a union there,
and I can be cool and whatever, and I could
have a Honda or so I didn't, you know whatever.
My aspirations and dreams were way out of my reach.
And as I got older, the dreams got and my

(04:23):
goals got way way, way bigger, you know, to a
certain point where you know they're unreachable. And I got
to a certain point like where I'm at now, where
my goals are not even like it's not even close
to being and I've gotten to a certain point where
I don't even give a fuck.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, you know, to.

Speaker 4 (04:38):
Where I've attained a certain level of success. But yeah,
you know, Ben Yang started, I mean ben Baller was
founded in nineteen ninety two when I was playing ball
in college and I was also DJing around that time.
I was in the hip hop scene heavy in high
school and everything else. I was always hustling, just doing
all kinds of shit here and there. My first professional

(04:59):
career was probably DJ, nightclub DJ, going out whatever they're
and then I got into the music business, and then
music business, uh still DJed, then I'll slip and kitchen
the side. And how I became a millionaire was selling
my Steager collection and then from there it just flourished.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Sure, you know, I I've noticed that, you know, throughout
your career. You know, I always have seen like everybody
direct you to if you need jewelry, if you need ice,
I mean, if you need you know, baller. And if
I'm not mistaken, are you in the Cosmo too or
something like that, you have something in the cosmos that
you have you have a jewelry, he said, don't ever guess?

Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, do you guys? Do you guys jewels?

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Do you have jewelry stores in Vegas or the people
that sell you Beverly Hills.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
That's actually one of my my stores inside the Beverly
Center over the Hills.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Okay, So so I just noticed that, like, how did
jewelry become so such a big thing for you?

Speaker 3 (05:55):
And and you know in the market.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
It wasn't it was you know, like most of my
jobs are kind of like, you know, I didn't really
have a door open up for me. I kind of
almost had to with jewelry. I built the door. You
know what I'm saying. I got I got some wood
and I built the door. I was like, all right,
let me open this motherfucker. Oh the jewelry here, shit right,
I guess what it is. My cousin was was was
slaying and jewelry in the hood, and the Losses swapped

(06:20):
me and uh, you know legendary man. You know this
is we're in south central Los Angeles.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Oh hell yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:27):
And uh my uncle was a jeweler. I just love
jewelry as a kid. You know, my mom used to
wear jewelry sometimes here and there. And I just like
gold chains. Watch, you know, looking at old Eric b
Rock him and looking at old uh any kind of
old school hip hop stuff l O cool JC and
big chains and looking at you know, like old school
hip hop. Uh a lot of New York influence and

(06:48):
a lot of drug dealers and shit. You know, I
was like, all right, well, you know you successful, You
got a Rolex, you got a gold chain. And it
was kind of like something I always obsessed over. When
I got my first six figure check was from doctor
dre and you know, I bought a Rolex on a
chain and about a car, and so I was like,
you know, something I always thought was a cool business,
and then I didn't really consider it and it had
been in the back of my head for seven eight years.

(07:11):
And then you know, in two thousand and four, I
saw my secret collection and I became a millionaire for
the first time, and I was out of debt, and
I was like, let me try to get my life together,
and uh, it's a lot of sneakers. Yeah, I mean,
now it's really not a ton I mean, you know,
they're sneakers that are you know, average one hundred thousand
dollars here and there. But I mean, going on, I

(07:32):
kind of was an innovator, you know. I was a pioneer,
trailblazer in that business. And I'm I decided. I was like, like,
I need to figure out what the fuck I'm gonna do.
The first thing I want to do is I don't
want to DJ ever again. I was sick at a
certain point. Where as much as I love meeting people,
I love meeting girls, I love fucking happy, I just
loved man. It was I was in the night life

(07:53):
for so long. At a certain point, towards the end,
I was making money too, you know what I mean.
I was obviously doing very well for myself on the street,
like not like I didn't take it to the next
level of where you know, I had attained a million dollars,
but I was eating well at a nice car. I
had a nice place, and you know, I did pretty
much what I wanted for that time. It just at

(08:14):
a certain point, I was paying a security guard to
not even let girls have to talk to me. I
just didn't want to talk to anybody. At a certain point,
I started pre recording my mixes for a nightclub and
I would just like bring a small, little eight inch
television and play Xbox and like not, and I just
started I just got really bored and I hated the
business of music. I hated telling somebody, oh, man, i'll

(08:36):
call you back. Man, your album is dope. Look we're
gonna fucking sign You're gonna do this, And then we
signed that person. It just bullshit. They don't understand the business.
We're taking advantage of them. And I figure, I was like,
you know what, man, I can't be a piece of
shit all my life, you know, like I got to
try to figure out how to change a little bit.
And then you know, I was I was engaged to
get married for the first time in my life. And
I was one thousand and a half and I was
dating the supermodel. And then I think the money got

(08:58):
a little bit to me because I was like, man,
I got everything on my access now, you know what
I'm saying. And so she was in uh, Paris, Milan
and Germany, and uh, this was a time where you know,
text messaging wasn't very common or wasn't common. Sorry, it
wasn't common at all. There was two way messaging, but
in Asian and other parts of the world, they were
text messaging already. Wait, you know, going but you know

(09:19):
it was like call somebody and uh cell phone called
from Europe. You know you're talking, you know, like it
might have been ten bucks a minute, who knows. So
my fiancee called me and I didn't pick up the phone,
and she knew right then and there the energy was
off just from being thirty thousand miles away from me.
She knew something was wrong. And I went to Vegas.
I just shot. I was a cameo in a Little
John video. Hits me up. It is hey, Bronnie the

(09:39):
Asian gangster in this video. Man, you being there, I
was like, yeah, cool. So I was like, little John
is popping right now? All right cool? Oh icecubes in
the video, my boy, all right, boom did this video?
Shoot this a bunch of video hosts and then we
started partying and I was like, fuck this, let's go
to Vegas. So I decided to get a penthouse suite
and we drive it to Vegas and uh, I don't
even tell my my filanx hid I'm going out there.

(09:59):
I'm just being bad. I'm just being stupid. And she
sensed that I didn't have to tell her. We were
that connected. I felt like she told me and she
figured it out, and you know, she flipped it around.
And then at that point I was like, damn man,
I'm actually you know what, I'm actually really miserable right now.
So at that point I decided to travel the world
and I hit like twenty countries.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (10:17):
And I had a mentor at the time who is
very instrumental in my life, you know. He was there
was mister Cartoon. It's famous tattoo, yeah cartoon, And so
Cartoon was like, hey, man, you know you got to
figure this, this is this out and I was like,
I'm going to go see the world. You know, something
I always wanted to do. You know, I've never really
been out of la and you know, I've been in

(10:38):
New York for business and certain shit because of the
music business. But I'm talking about like that, let's go
see the world, like fuck, Cabo, fuck, let's let's go somewhere.
So you know, I hit all of Europe, I hit
the South of France, I hit all of Asia, Southeast Asia, everything,
and when I came back, I still couldn't figure it out.
But I got cultured. And Cartoon was about to open
up a store. He's about to start spanning his business,

(11:00):
and I was admiring this Guy's like, wow, man, this
dude came from the street, came from the hood. I
know this dude a long time from you know, being
on the street. Like damn, man, Cartoon is really doing it.
I really admired this guy. And then he kind of
pulled me to the side and he's like, hey, bro,
like I'm gonna be real with you, man. You know,
we bump heads here and there. You know, I know
you got a big ego and I got a big ego,
and you know, your egos out of control, you know

(11:21):
what I mean. And you have all the confidence in
the world, and I have to be honest with you.
You can't work with me. Bro, you can't work with me. Dog,
you're too bad ass. Bro, you're like too He was
saying it in a really good way.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
And before you understood it, like okay.

Speaker 4 (11:34):
I accepted it and really understood what he was saying.
He was like, you know he was he was telling me, man, Bro, listen, man,
you got to get the fuck away from me. Dogs,
you drive me crazy, but I love you. And at
the same time he really did mean like, hey, bro,
you're too badass. You need to figure out what you
want to do. And even Cartoon was buying jewelry. He
had a relationship with the jeweler I was dealing with.
I was with Cartoon every day. Yeah, so I hit

(11:55):
my cousin up, went to go visit the store, and
I was like, hey, bro, this is really a really
you know, this is a shithole, Like were in the hood.
Motherfuckers a getting shot every day. I come down here
and I'm from the hood, so I'm not really shripping,
but Bro, like they're really coming out here spending twenty rand,
thirty grand, fifteen grand, ten grand He's like yeah all
day long. So I said, look, man, we ain't gonna
do this the Korean way and the Korean way as

(12:17):
we shake hands and that's it. Ain't no contracts. It's
just cash. And for the most part, I have to
be honest with you, like it's like an eighty percent
success rate where you don't have to go to court.
They don't believe in Korean people just kind of just
do business on their owns. You know. They go to
crean doctors, go to grocery stores. They don't go outside
their circle. Me I'm very you know, I'm I'm interactive

(12:38):
with everyone. So you know, I said, let's start a
different location. It could be inside the swap meet, let's
just move shops. I want to start a name. Let's
start this up boom And so we did it, you know,
and then I contacted all my music people, you know,
Travis Barker and the Clips, Mariah Carey and a bunch
of people, and I started bubbling and you know, long

(12:59):
story short, or you know, I would hit, I would hit.
I would hit a milestone like Michael Jackson Gigantic boom,
all the rappers boom.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
And then like you know, just walls. I've seen them all.
Everybody's everybody.

Speaker 5 (13:13):
How did that Michael Jackson one come about? And did
you get to meet him? And you know what was
that like?

Speaker 4 (13:19):
So with Mike? You know, like the crazy part is
anyone my age? Man? Look man, anyone really for real?
Anyone from forty to sixty. I don't care what color
skin you are. You tell me you being fuck with
Michael Jackson. Man, I'm fucking punching you in the.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
You' a straight liar? Yeah, So you.

Speaker 4 (13:41):
Know, obviously I was an enormous all of his and uh,
it's just random as hell. One of my nicknames is
one of my monikers is the Forest Gumpy hip Hop,
And when I launched my podcast, I launched it off
that that that that basic like on the Forest gumpany
hip hop. I've been in the room with Park, I've
been in the room with so many people. I've had
these weird experiences, and you know, it's time to talk

(14:01):
about him and my cousin by marriage. She's my blood
cousin's sister, half sister. She was going to school with
Kim Kardashian all them, and they lived the very privileous
life totally the opposite of the hill, and she was
dating Michael Jackson's nephew, Tito's son, Terrell. And a funny

(14:22):
thing is that's Kim Kardashian's act. So it's like a
weird thing in that school whatever. But bottom line is
I had a chance to go to Neverland and I
was like shit, And I kind of became friends with
some of the people, some of the family members and stuff.
We end up being cool. But I never ever one
thing about me was there was a point in time
where I was really green, like maybe like eighteen to
twenty two, and someone's like, oh, you want to go

(14:43):
meet somebody. I had no shame. Well let's go fucking
meet and boop, I'll shake my hand and I mean,
I'll put my hand out and be I just act
like the biggest fucking dick rider like I had no
It was just weird, and I was so glad being
born and raised in LA with so many people. I
just kind of got that out of my system. So
when it came to the time where I started working
with big people, it wasn't shipped to me. But Mike

(15:07):
was a big fucking deal.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, so.

Speaker 4 (15:12):
His manager at the time, is this a guy named
Tomo tome and the dudes obviously mafia dude, like this
guy bought his dead up and everything else and helped
him out. And uh, Mike was renting like a sixty
seven million dollars crid back in the day. You know,
this was like twelve years ago, so that's probably like
a twenty million dollar house now. And uh, the house
he was renting, we actually shot a jay Z video there,

(15:34):
like seven years prior. It's a very weird, full circle
Forrest Gump moments. I'm always just jumping here and there.
And Tomeo Tomy's son is a friend of a friend's
and he's all these rich kids, and I was like, hey, bro, man,
I just want to fucking meet dude. I would love
to get some some some work done with him. And
you know, I'm saying this to him, but I'm not
going to talk to Mike like that. So I'm excited

(15:56):
to meet Mike. I meet the manager. We meet each
other at a coffee shop in Brentwood. It was the
most random, chill little spot. The next thing, you know,
I meet Mike there and I'm like, the fuck, this
is fucking crazy. I can't put this fool is really
out in this. It was a very nice part of Brentwell.
But still and when we started, when we sat down,
we were about where basically how far you guys are

(16:20):
sitting apart, think a circular table, very close meaning obviously
you guys talked at each other. You can hear each other,
you don't have to yell nothing. Mike wouldn't talk to
me the entire fifteen twenty minutes we met. He only
talked to his manager. Was manager to talk to me,
And I was like, so, what colored diamonds do you like?
You know, you want blue?

Speaker 6 (16:38):
Will do?

Speaker 4 (16:38):
I mean, do you have an idea for artwork? And
he'd be like can you tell him that? So I said, look, man,
you know what, I can only think of maybe two
times or three times in my life that I could
think of someone I meet that I idolized, and this
is one of the times. So I'm like, don't you know,

(17:00):
I think the only thing he couldn't do is maybe,
you know, kiss me on the mouth.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
You know what I'm saying, maybe one spin on me whatever, I'll.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
So you know this, This lasted that entire time and
I was like, wow, man, crazy. So after like three
or four times and dealing things. I made a piece
of jewelry, and that's when I understood at that point,
I'm in the wrong. I'm in the I'm not not
doing this the right way. At that point, I was
outsourcing the jewelry. I had a guy that was making
stuff for me, and I realized the real level of

(17:33):
the game. I was making hip hop jewelry. You know,
not disrespecting about I'm just saying this that the expectations
were not as high. She's dealing with Cardier de Beers,
you know, Van Kleft Harry Winston level jewelry. I mean
he's buying things, you know, he's shopping where the Kings
would shop, royalty And I was like all right, And
he told me, He's like, hey man, this is fucking
come on, man, this is a joke, you know, his
manager telling me. And I was like, fuck, my brainstorm

(17:56):
figured things out. I started taking classes, I started learning
how to car, I started learning how to do all
the trades, and came back and built him a badass piece.
But uh yeah, man, dude was fucking a trip. You know.
I meant I got to meet like his cook and
people like that. And one time we were sitting and
talking in his living room, and uh, we were just,
you know, kind of in the middle of a conversation. It

(18:17):
wasn't anything super deep or anything, but I was still
talking and then we kind of paused for a second
and he goes, oh, and he stood up, got up,
walked out of the room, and uh, you know, this
is his house. So it's like, you know, like it
was such a big house. I didn't really want to

(18:37):
just get up and start, you unless I was going
to the bathroom. I know where that was. So I
kind of just stay in the room and I just
waited for him to come back, you know, because because
we still kind of had a couple of things to
talk about. And so twenty minutes had gone by, and
I'm like, fuck, maybe you know, you know who knows,
maybe you know whatever. So thirty minutes goes by, I'm
like all right, and I started walking around and I
fucking run into the chef and he's like, oh shit,

(18:58):
you scared the hell of me. Who are you? And
I was like, oh, I'm I'm Ben Baller, I'm a jeweler.
I was just talking to MJ. Do you know where
MJ is? And he goes, oh, MJ's home and I
was like, well, what do you mean. He goes, I
see anybody, and I was like, you haven't seen anybody
in ten days. He goes, Mam, He goes, are you hungry?
I'll cook you something. I was like, no, man, I'm
gonna get the fuck I actually get to the door.

(19:19):
I need to get out of here.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
He did bounce just.

Speaker 4 (19:24):
He was just bounced on. He just took off and I
had made a few things like broaches and things like that,
and the next thing you know, you know, he passed away.
I made all his jewey up till until he died
of pretty much. I mean, it was a trip.

Speaker 7 (19:36):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
Wow, Wow, we're talking to Ben Baller and that's great, man.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
I see fresh jewelers. Let's take a break and come
right back with you.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
Welcome back to Cannabis Talk one on one. Ben Baller
is with us. If you haven't been listening, you know,
talking about Michael Jackson just did disappearing on you.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
I mean what you know what as a musician.

Speaker 7 (20:04):
Yeah, and however, did he ever ultimately just talk straight
to you?

Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, when they're at the house.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
But honestly, like it was like, you know, you gotta remember, man, like,
this is a dude who did nothing but cuss. I
cuss a lot, a lot, Like he told that motherfucker
what what? What the fuck are you talking about? And
it was a trip because you would never think that
Michael Jackson cuss a lot. I mean, people who know

(20:32):
him obviously know that he you know, he had a
kind of a temper, different side. But it was just
it was fuck man. You know, you just really start
realizing like, wow, TV is different, and you know, Hollywood
is different, and this is me being in Hollywood already
for you know, fucking fifteen years almost or something. It's
just like, god damn.

Speaker 8 (20:49):
So how did you transition into cannabis?

Speaker 4 (20:53):
So first time I got high was probably what nineteen
eighty six or something, eighty five maybe eighty five. I
think eighty four eighty five I got I might have
been eighty four. Actually I'm sorry, eighty four. Some dude
at school had had weed. He was an eighth grader.
I was sixth grader, and my boys like, oh, we're
gonna get you. Watch all the fucking videos back there.

(21:14):
You're watching TV, like, oh.

Speaker 6 (21:15):
Just say no, and all that shit's going on, right
of all fucking schools of all places, you want to
talk about some forest gump shit, like weirdo random shit
of all places.

Speaker 4 (21:27):
My school was a school where Dare was founded. Chances
you know what I'm saying, Like my fucking school. I'll
never forget. The guy's name was Officer Gay. How do
you forget that name? Yeah, dere And I'm like, shit, man,
I'm a bad dude. But I don't know. Man, you
don't know about Joe. I don't want to start at
the same time too, I played sports. I don't want

(21:47):
to get short. I don't want to be short. I'm Asian.
I'm more than against the ropes, you know what I'm saying, Like,
I think I might have been six two or something
if if I didn't, you know, smoke so much. But
we're getting high, and it just was like it was
a weird thing because you know, I can't really go
super deep into specifics of strains and things, but I

(22:08):
can't think of their being that many strains around them,
you know what I mean? All I know was that
it was Indica. Back then. I didn't even know so
t bigss. I had no idea, but I smoke and
I was like.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
Well, just like what did had some skunk bud?

Speaker 5 (22:23):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
My godfather was one of the OG's normal you know,
m R N O R M L. And my godfather
directed Up and Smoke and he also he produced every
Cheap Chong album ever.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
So I know he used to smoke and shit. And
then it's weird because he had so many kids and
he didn't smoke me as kids my age, so it's
kind of a weird thing. And I just didn't smoke
again until I got to school. So I go to
the Bay and you know, Grateful Dead is going on,
all that shit is going on on the hate Street.
I'm like, WHOA should I do acid for the first
time all my craziest college and you know, I've don't

(23:01):
ask the sugar cubes all this other shit. I'm doing mushrooms.
I'm like, damn do The Bay is different. I'm like,
this shit is dope out here, like you know, smoking
all through high school and everything, and uh, you know,
at that point, I was like, obviously it's a good
hustle sell weed, not a lot, but you know, I
just sell a little bit here and there make Money's
always dabbled with it. It wasn't until like around ninety

(23:21):
nine to where I started moving like five hundred and
six hundred pounds a week a week, you know, that's
nine two thousand. Selling five hundred pounds of a weed
a week is a lot of weed.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
That's weight.

Speaker 4 (23:36):
Now we're moving that. We're taking l's. You were taking
the l here and there, here and there. And then
in two thousand and one, everyone in my crew got
By two thousand and one, everyone's been was arrested and
fucked up, and they just know the game, like, yo, man,
you're gonna arrest us what it is, and we do
what we can, but at the same time, like we
can't make it hot. My cousin decided to start making
a movie about it, and we did. We made a
real movie, like seventy percent reality and like thirty percent

(23:59):
extra shit. I made a movie called Cake Feature Film.
It took three years to sell the fucking movie the
lions Gate, but it ended up coming out side You
can buy like a fucking Walmarts more for like three
four dollars. But it was based upon that and I
never thought about it again because it was illegal and
it was just a nightmare. Then I started seeing like
medicinal shark come back, and it wasn't until like around

(24:21):
four years ago. I had some guys who kind of like,
you know, they had told me they looked up to me.
They admire what I was doing for Asian Americans and
the community. They had never seen Asians move like me whatever.
And I asked them what they were doing. They're like, oh,
we own some dispensaries. And I was like, oh, I
get cool. You know, that's that's dope. And then you know,
like at that time, you know you can make a

(24:42):
couple million dollars off one dispensary. Yeah, and you know,
I met guys who were a big time like you know,
those guys like, am I want four dispensaries? And they're
like real big time, super big ball of Harley's and
cars and everything. These guys own like forty dispensaries. So
I was like, holy shit on a whole different motherfucking level. Right,
they showed me this vake pen like, hey man, you

(25:04):
know what do you think about this? And I was like,
oh man, this is dope. You know, it's actually fucking
five years ago. And I was like like right when
it just started, and I was like, this is dope.
Let me put it on my page and I'll just
boom and put it on my Instagram page. And they
said they hired girls with two million followers. Everything you
could think of whatever is a lot of followers back then,
and they were hiring people to post shit and the
turnaround was really not that great. When I did it,

(25:26):
the turnaround was overwhelming for them. So I said, hey, man,
we got an idea. Man, would you want to do
your own pen And I'm like, yeah, fuck it. But
if I do business, you know, I can't do like
some Let's do it, like let's let's let's let's let
let's let's brand it, let's let's do let's do a
whole fucking thing around me. Let's do this. And I
don't know why, but I just deep dove into it.
And so we started vbs and we began to crush

(25:49):
it until something called the fucking BCC. Yeah, irs a
fucking weed nott me just the BCC. But it was
just like, you know, like, uh, I've seen how many
times a new compliance has come around in the years.
I'm just like, what the come on, bro, a black sticker?
You're telling me the black SAA sticker. I have seventy

(26:11):
five thousand stickers. I mean two hundred fifty thousand stickers.
I got to get white stickers that the c A,
the fucking c A compliance sticker. Yeah, choking me, Please
tell me you're kidding. And I'm like, yo, It's like
little things like that, you know, like all right, you
got to start doing your homework. You know, I grew
up with Cypress Hill. Mister Cartoon's part of soul Assassins.
You know, it's all families, Like I've been around cannabis

(26:31):
all my life, and you know, I just started learning
the hardships and then just with the compliance and shit
and fucking and then pesticides came up, and there's people
are like, oh, you're selling dirt. And then it's just
like hold on, wait a second, what the fuck is
going on? I got these sides talking shit, hiding, you know,
putting this up your boom, and they're like, man, man,
we got people bootlegging your pants.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
Oh yeah, there's a lot of that happens to the
best of them. That's why you're doing it.

Speaker 4 (26:57):
Fucking kidding me so counterfaiting that my pens are being
bootleg and there's not really much because it's it's pretty
close but then I'm like looking at it. I'm like,
all right, it's little off. I'm a jeweler. I'm gonna
look at detail. And yeah, sure enough, you know they
got bad you know they got bad oil in my pants.
You know the shit happened in brass nuckles and fucked
them up. And those are my boys, And it just

(27:17):
I had to just keep transitioning. So now it's at
the point where it's it, dude, it's it's a fucking
it's a struggle with with with with with bait pens,
you know what I mean. Plus on top of that,
I'm using c cell technology, which to means one of
the best. And people are like, you know why you're
on a pistoric shit, why don't you use live resud? Like,
shut the fuck up, bro, let me do what the
fuck I do? Do you know what I'm saying, Like,

(27:38):
everyone that has all these things to say about something,
they're either doing something out of the garage, they're doing
it on a very small scale, or they don't own
a company, don't understand what it is to sell a
million pens, you know. And you know, right when the
pandemic had started, we had two hundred and fifty thousand
pens stuck in customs from where China, and uh, I

(28:05):
was like, bro, there has to be someone who makes
fucking ce cell technology in America's there isn't. So I
was just like Jesus fucking Christ. So that was stuck
for a minute. I had a big partnership with medmen
and then that ship, Thank God, thank fucking God, like
God bless them and they are really good to me.
And I got paid.

Speaker 8 (28:23):
I made money with that, Yeah, a lot of people didn't.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
Yeah, And I felt bad because I talked to people
are like, hey, man, how big is You're you're po
with them whatever. I'm like, man, like why do you
count in my pockets? I an't asked you no questions
what you guys doing? And you know, we got paid.
We're thankful, and we kept the pushing. So right now,
the good thing is the pens are in higher demand.
It's just harder to get because uh, you know, because

(28:49):
of because of China. So I kind of, you know,
finally went to the stream route and I teamed up
with Cookies Spam and my boys as the cultivation of
Big Farm Skypack and you know, Sacramento and I'm we
were about to launch the Strain on March twentieth. On
March eleventh, the entire country got shut down. Oh fucking fantastic.

(29:12):
You know, this is amazing. So, I mean, it's just
been it's been very interesting. And at the moment they
were like, why don't we just launch it without you here?
And I was like, Bro, I'm not like one of
these weirdos. Bro, you know what I'm saying, Like, I
want to be there, be involved, I want to be
at the instores. I want to actually be proactive on this.
And it's just it's still a very very unusual situation.
So that's just kind of on hold because my son

(29:34):
and my children's and my children and my whole family's
you know, health is ten times more valuable than any
of the Oh yeah, you know.

Speaker 8 (29:41):
It'll be the Cannibals will be there tomorrow, all businesses will.

Speaker 3 (29:45):
You got to take care of fan band first.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
You know, Ben, Well, I remember when, you know, back
in the day, I used to hang out with you
at the Rainbow Room with you know, be Real and
you'd stop in once in a while. We used to
and you remember Playboy Bud next door at the Key Club.
You know what I mean and running around and and
I've watched this this industry evolves so much from your
you know, your product lines, to to the people, the

(30:08):
players that are all in that game, to the underground
things that were happening then to what's really happening now.
And you're right, it's such a big curve and all
these new things are happening, and it's so difficult to
to you know, navigate through it when you have laws changing,
like the Little c A and all this. So, you know,
I admire that fact that it's just like it's it's
a grind, you know, you've got to you've got to evolved.

(30:29):
I mean when we when we you know, try to
create this show and you know, you know me, people
told us that we were going to fail. You know,
all this isn't gonna work. You know, You're not gonna
ever be played on radio. And then three years, four
years into it, we're signing to the biggest you know,
uh music conglomerates.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
You know.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
But it's just you have to have that vision, and
you've always had that vision. And that's something that I
admire about you.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
Man.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
I've watched your success for for many years, you know,
and I just think it's fantastic that you have made
a staple and have influenced so many people, minorities, you know,
to be stronger, better and faster because you are you know,
that unicorn in that space. You know what I mean,
you always have been and it's it's beautiful.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Huh.

Speaker 4 (31:09):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (31:10):
Yeah, thank you. I want to get.

Speaker 5 (31:12):
Towards now that you know you've done everything, you're doing,
all these things you make the thing with Michael Jackson,
what is.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
It now that go?

Speaker 5 (31:19):
You know, this is my passion and I know, of
course you know the pandemic, the health of your family
and kids. I'm assuming that's first top of the list,
making sure that's a plus number one.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
But what is it now? I mean, is cannabis the
new Let me learn more about are what is it
that meant? Meant?

Speaker 5 (31:37):
Let Ben Yang go from the young kid east in
La growing up to be Ben Baller, the icy fresh jewelers.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Now this now that where's your mindset out?

Speaker 7 (31:47):
Now?

Speaker 3 (31:47):
Because you've been so successful, where are you going?

Speaker 4 (31:51):
You know, it's funny to say that, man, like, there's
very few people in the world that even know my
name is Ben Yang. I think b reals play one
of the very few, and Kenji and all my soul
Assassin family. I don't think I've used that name as
a joke until maybe two years ago, so I no
one even I've never ever been addressed as that. I
think even my mail at my office, I think people

(32:12):
kind of bug out when they see that name. They
think it's wrong. They'll send it back like Motherfucker's use
name because it makes sense because I don't care about
anything anymore. I don't want to learn too much about
anything else. I'm really just over it. I'm almost fifty nine.
I'm just kind of like, I just want to be
a dad now, you know what I mean, because I

(32:33):
started so late in life. My wife is eleven years
younger than me, so like, you know, with my kids
and everything, you know, I've made enough money to kind
of just chill. So you know, I have businesses that
are on cruise control. And my my dream is to
delete all my social media, you know, like I think
I have y Yeah, man, you know, I'm just I'm

(32:54):
just I'm just over it. I want to be ben
Yang now, you know what I mean, And I want
to kind of I mean, I'm I'm never really gonna
fit in. I guess, you know, I could be in
regular clothes or whatever. It just wouldn't it wouldn't. It
wouldn't matter. I don't really wear jewelry anymore. I still have,
you know, obviously really nice cars and other things, but
I just don't really. It's just I'm just at a
different way. And I don't mean that to sound like

(33:16):
and some people will be like, oh, man, for your
giving up. How am I giving up? Motherfucker. I'm still
living better than everybody. You know, I've done that.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
You're ready to cruse? Yeah, yeah, I have to.

Speaker 4 (33:27):
Drive because you got to remember someone. I don't know,
somebody big. I'm trying to think, like fuck, I mean,
even like Jeff Bezos. I honestly, truly, this thing sounds
our land is to somebody listening to this. I don't
know if he had the work ethic I did at
a certain point. It was just he had the tools
and the money and other things, and he's amazing what

(33:48):
he did as a visionary and everything, and where he's
at now. It's just I can't think of it. I
don't know if you can work any hard like I
stressed my brain out so much. I had a seizure
a few weeks ago, you know, And it wasn't from anything,
to the fact that I just was so overwhelmed and
I've just worked so much that it's to the point
where I don't want to work anymore, do you know?
Because I worked for so long. I had a paper
route when I was a kid. I was always running

(34:09):
around doing shit. I worked at bird King, I worked,
I worked shitty places, fast food, you name it. Like
I'm cool, Like I'm good man. I don't want to
work nowhere, you know what I mean, I'll take less
here to do this. And I've learned how to you know,
to you know, last this long. You know, people by
the time they're thirty in the hip hop world, you know,
you're a dinosaur. Twenty seven they old, you know what

(34:31):
I mean, forty, mom, forget about it.

Speaker 6 (34:33):
You know.

Speaker 4 (34:33):
Like the Plain Jane song came out just barely three
years ago, you know, and like that was a number
one song in the world, not even just the country.
And like my glow up every year I became more
relevant and flourished, and I was like, yo, man, like
i got two more years and I'm done, right, you know.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
And now if I'm not mistaken. You're on ESPN earlier.
Is it a new shoe that you launched or what
was cracking with that?

Speaker 4 (34:58):
No, So I have a I have a baseball card
deal with Tops and Fact to cartoons of artists. They
they chose twenty iconic artists across the country, I'm sorry,
across the world, and they got the twenty most prolific
baseball player history, from Ted Williams to Mark Maguire to
Derek Jeter to Ken Griffy. And what they did was

(35:22):
they had twenty artists recreate twenty players rookie cards. And
it was supposed to just be a fifty sixty Instagram campaign,
but it ended up being a royalty thing. And I'm
with the major agency. I'm actually with Derek Jeter, same
agent as Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods. I'm with Excel Sports Management,

(35:43):
you know. And for a long time, everything I've done
on myself, every TV show, my reality series, my my
my movies, any kind of campaigns, everything was done through me.
I had I had representation through w ME and CIA
before that, but I never really had like a real
manager or agent and everything was myself, like I just
did it myself. I acted like it was someone else,

(36:03):
but it was just me. Now, in the last year,
I'm with like some big hitters now, so you know,
my my deals are structured different. And in the pandemic,
you know, I signed this deal with Tops and I
thought it'd be cool, you know, I was like, hey, man,
let's do this for fun. You know, this was ended
up being you know, like almost a eight figure deal,
so you know, it's it's it's you know, we're selling

(36:25):
twenty dollars cards, you know, and I've already sold a
quarter million of them. Yeah, Caroquin was a few cards
ago and things like that. But I've also with them,
I've been making money I've never in my life ever
And I own a non profit organization for a long
time in Seattle, and I've done a lot of charity
and help. But this is the year where I think
I gave more than ever I've ever done in my life.

(36:47):
I would fuck trying to get an organization to middlemanship.
I literally looked through like two hundred ms. All right,
single mom needs diapers, boom, all right, I'm gonna send
your cash out for twenty bucks, all right, Boom, you
need three fifty all right, boom here. All right, I'm
gonna send books listeners. All right, I'm a send SENTI
fight allst this person. I just donated tons of shit
that I donated to the Black Lives Matter Ship, to
the cause and everything. And I've just I've done more

(37:09):
charity and donated this here than ever in my life.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
Oh yeah, that's a beautiful thing.

Speaker 7 (37:12):
Man.

Speaker 5 (37:12):
You know, it's so great to hear you were talking
to Ben Baller also known and want to be known
as Debuilder Button named Ben Yang. We're gonna come back
to do the high fight with you.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
It's Cannabis Talk one on one.

Speaker 8 (37:24):
Yes, welcome back to Cannabis Talk one on.

Speaker 7 (37:36):
One with Blue Joe, Grande, Mark and Craig and Pop
Brothers at Law. We are here with Ben Baller of
Icy Fresh, Jewelers and just so much stuff. But we
got to give thanks to Pitt, Peanut, Jennifer and Elvis.

Speaker 8 (37:52):
Those are the Those are.

Speaker 5 (37:54):
The people of the crew who the only one that
tells talking like this to be back to be part
of the show.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
Reconnect me.

Speaker 5 (38:01):
As he's ripping Elvis, It's like I'm looking at him going,
I can't believe you're bringing us back.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
This this is a couple of times.

Speaker 8 (38:06):
Now, Hey, I remember, I remember how to do everything
I was.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
He just hasn't been here so long.

Speaker 5 (38:11):
He's had such a crazy July to where we've done
podcasts every day in the month of July, and then
he was here just the other day and he goes
our shows only Tuesdays and Thursday.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
It's like, dog, we do a show every day, we're
doing five days.

Speaker 6 (38:24):
Wait, what do you mean?

Speaker 2 (38:25):
Hey?

Speaker 3 (38:25):
But when I come back, I bring the big guests
with me.

Speaker 7 (38:27):
Right now, it's time for the Cannabis Talk one on
one high.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Five with Ben Ball.

Speaker 5 (38:33):
Before we do the high five with Ben Ball, and
I want you to give another introduction so we can
do that nice and clean.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
Okay, Ben, am I not mistaken? Are you a big
fan of the poem the slam poem that mister Mark?
Have you heard of it yet? Do you know the
slam poem that Mark and Craig Washerman have done?

Speaker 4 (38:49):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (38:50):
Oh, no, you know it.

Speaker 4 (38:51):
I'm not sure.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
I to refresh my memory.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
It's okay, he's heard the script.

Speaker 5 (38:58):
Well, I guess I think we walk on without further
If you, Ben, this is education that should be sold
and not told by the pop brothers at law without
further ado, mister Mark Washerman give him the slamp home.

Speaker 8 (39:14):
It's called am I being detained or am I free
to go? By the pop brothers at law?

Speaker 3 (39:19):
Am I being detained or am I free to go?

Speaker 7 (39:22):
This is what to say, my lawyer tells me. So
the cops are out there doing a job. Sometimes they
must contain a mob, a thankless job that saves many lives.
At their home are worried children, husbands and wives. But
does that give them the right to stomp on my rights?
So we are here for you, the cannabis community, to
fight to let you know it's okay to just shut.

Speaker 8 (39:42):
The fuck up.

Speaker 7 (39:43):
When cops ask questions, you start with I'm not discussing
my day, end with I invoked the Fifth These ain't suggestions,
These are words to live by, to memorize. See, it's
not about the size of that cops gun because they
want you to run so they can pull that macho
gun and shoot you for fleeing the scene. Some cops
are just plain mean. We must show off, shut it down.
Those feelings of anger that instantly come around when that

(40:04):
cop has to show his power and his might without cause,
without reason, and.

Speaker 3 (40:08):
We know they're not right.

Speaker 7 (40:10):
We must remain calm, keep the devil sleeping on the
left shoulder. We must be cold, even colder. Ice must
flow through your veins to shut that heat, the blood
that rush your brain straight from your feet. When that
cop disrespected you cuz you wouldn't tell him what that
smell was, and he accuses you of a pot to
ui because he absolutely knows that you're buzzed. But see,

(40:30):
they can't tell, and they don't know only if you
tell them. So o, Officer, I smoked a joint a
few hours ago. Officer, here's my medical wreck. Officer, I'm
a marijuana patient. We live in America. Prohibition still exists.
That CoP's gonna do whatever he's gonna do. Fifty to
fifty he arrests. You. Give us a chance to represent

(40:51):
you with the defense that's blazing. Let us show you
in court we're amazing. But we can only do that
if you listen to our tips. Now, let me see
you move your lips. You know the drill. When the
cops ask questions, we say, I'm not discussing my day.
Am I being detained? Or am I free to go?
I invoked the fifth and then you shut the fuck up.

(41:14):
It's all about what you say and what you do.

Speaker 8 (41:16):
We have given you the script.

Speaker 7 (41:17):
We are telling you what to say, we are telling
you what to do. We've put your hands up in
protection mode. But should you take a shot to the jaw,
we will be here fighting for the cannabis community.

Speaker 8 (41:29):
Because we are the pot brothers at all.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
Damn you think that.

Speaker 4 (41:37):
I'm all about it man?

Speaker 6 (41:39):
You know I.

Speaker 4 (41:40):
That's what got me looked onto it when I heard
them on I'm with the Saving I'm on the same
production company as Mike Rapport, so you know when I
heard them on rap shawls like yo, I fuck with
these dudes.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
Thank you, appreciate.

Speaker 7 (41:53):
All right, now it is time for the Cannabis Talk
one oh one high five with Ben Baller.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
Joe. Take it away, Ben, Here we go.

Speaker 5 (42:01):
Five questions for you, brother, can't wait to get your
honest answer. How old are you the first time you
smoked weed?

Speaker 3 (42:07):
And where'd you get it from?

Speaker 4 (42:10):
I was twelve and I got it from some dude
named Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
Good old Lawrence, number neighbor, friend, who's Lawrence?

Speaker 4 (42:19):
He was an older dude at my school. In fact,
you know I think he was in eighth grade, but
he flunked the grade, so he should have been high
schoolready and getting fucking sixth graders high back in the
fucking nice.

Speaker 8 (42:32):
Question number two, what is your favorite way to use cannabis?

Speaker 4 (42:38):
My favorite way to use cannabis is to smoke it
in a blunt but.

Speaker 5 (42:44):
Due to.

Speaker 4 (42:46):
Home and things like that in my hands and spill
anything else. You know, I do smoke it out of
a out of a cannabis big pen, nice just because
I just I do it out of respect for them,
for my family understood.

Speaker 7 (42:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
Question number three of the High five with Ben Baller,
craziest place you've ever used or smoked cannabis?

Speaker 8 (43:09):
Damn, he's thinking about a million things right now.

Speaker 5 (43:14):
I know he's all hate witch uh Flint's barbecue and
O Glynn Michael Jackson's house.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
I mean, bro, I can't, I can't. I can't even imagine,
like like you know in Asia, there's areas like in Korea.
You know, if it gets caught with weed, it's yeah,
it's Charlie. You know, getting the twelve year old naked
boy in your car, you know what I mean, in
the trunk, like it's Jesus. In Korea, you know, they

(43:43):
don't have the jail cells only five feet tall, so
I can't even stand up in a jail cell, you know,
like there's no toilet, there's none of that. It's it's
really some old other ship.

Speaker 7 (43:51):
You know.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
It's just really crazy. So with that said, you know,
there's there's a lot of places, but I have to
say I was completely against it. When Snoop first went
to Korea, he had no how expensive weed was. Right,
So Snoop goes to Korea and he's like, hey, bro,
you need to hook me up blah blah. His manager's koreand.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
Ted Ted Yeah, Ted change yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:16):
And so Ted's like, hey, man, look bro, you already
know what the deal is. He's banned in like four
countries and just try to make it happen. So I
was like, you want some good shit. He's like, bro,
come on, man, you know what. I'm like, all right,
I got you, man, I'm gonna figure it out. And
he goes, bro, they have an ounce there, like, but
I'm gonna be real with you. It's like, you know,
twenty five thousand dollars my god, but if you want

(44:38):
to just buy it by the Graham. You know it's
you know what, maybe like twenty five hundred bucks a gram.
It's like it's it's so he's just like trying to
figure it out. He goes through like the entire ounce,
you know, in less than a day, and he's like,
fuck this, I'm gonna start doing features, Like do you
know how much a snoop feature is? Like if you
justone had to cash to pay it, he was going
to do a feature anyways. Bottom line is I told

(45:00):
him exactly where to stay with hotel to stands so
we can smoke and certain things, and he was able
to maneuver through that. Craziest place I smoked weed was
I brought Justin Bieber to Korea for the first time
six years ago. It's never been to Korea. Before he
started going to country he's never been to. And he
starts getting kicked out of countries because he's literally running
to a jet to get out of the country because

(45:22):
they find out that weed and they're trying to arrest him.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
Yeah, Korea, and tells.

Speaker 4 (45:30):
Me, don't worry about Everything's all good. I sneak half
an ounce of my pants in Korea. Dombest fucking thing
I've done in my entire life. I'm worried, like, this
is so stupid, so.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
I bring it.

Speaker 4 (45:41):
He starts smoking in my room. I'm like, no, no, no, broke,
I'm not staying at the hotel where you smoke. He's like, oh,
the way back, Boom. I'm just irritated. He goes, hey,
let's go to the mall. Let's go hang out. Show
me some sh sw me some fly shit in Korea.
So we get in the car. We start smoking. I'm
not even fucking paying attention. Okay, We're in a seven
car convoy. All kinds of craziness right, security everything. I know.

(46:05):
His entire team bes my boy. We're in a fucking
car driven by the police in Korea, smoking and I
hear that the the thing come down, and I hear
the dude talking and he has a police walkie talking.
I don't speak Korea influently, I understand everything I need
to understand. And at that point I knew we were

(46:28):
going to jail. I was that was a wrap, it
was done. I was like, holy shit, this is fucking unbelievable.
It was just a fucking un We made TMZ that
week and everything, and it was just crazy that we
were damn near smoking in a police car in Korea.
Of the most strictest places hasn't been the top five
strictest places in the world. Of spoke with me. I
was just like, Yo, it is unbelievable, like it fucked
up our relationship to our friendship. Because it was such

(46:48):
a fucked up situation, that had to be the craziest
place I could think of it. There's other places I
could think.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
That that was a great journey.

Speaker 7 (46:58):
All right, we are here with Ben Bam. It is
question number four of the High five. Man, what is
your go to munchies.

Speaker 8 (47:05):
When you get high?

Speaker 7 (47:07):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (47:07):
Man, any Japanese snack man, the green tea or strawberry
kit kats. There's these butter biscuits that I get from Japan.
Everything's all Japanese snacks. Man. It's just, you know, if
I don't have Japanese snacks, then you know what, fuck it.
I'll just go to some Cheetos and I go to like,
you know, some pound cake shit. I'm into all of

(47:28):
the fancy shit, you know what I'm saying. But I
love my Japanese snacks man.

Speaker 5 (47:31):
I remember DJ Cos bringing me a bunch of Japanese
snacks shout out to cars over there. Okay, question number five,
if you could smoke with anybody senior.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
Ben Baller, dead or alive, who would it be?

Speaker 4 (47:45):
Oh? Man, Shit, bro, it's not even a question. Bro,
be fucking Bruce Lee. Man. How to be Bruce Lee?
Bob Marley, you know what I'm saying. But yeah, I
mean it's Bob Marley second and maybe Barack Obama third,
and that's about it. That's yeah.

Speaker 5 (48:03):
But I want to get into detail now with Bruce Lee.
And I'm sure you've watched the movies, but I'm a
huge fan of it. Man, I know you've watched it
man one, two, probably.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Three and four. Are you hip to the movie it?

Speaker 4 (48:13):
Man?

Speaker 3 (48:14):
Ip right? Of course? Yeah, so that it man. If
you guys don't know, that was Bruce Lee's one of
his senses. So why Bruce Lee? Though?

Speaker 4 (48:24):
I think one growing up as an Asian American in
the world and there was nobody of representation but him,
and he happened to be the baddest motherfucker that ever lived,
you know what I mean. Like, and he was cool
with the brothers, he was cool with the blacks, he
was cool, cool with everyone. Everyone kind of fucked with him.
You know, it wasn't just like Asians, and he was
just you know you even watching the documentary Be Like Water,

(48:46):
and just his philosophy on life and just how he
felt and what he did and what barriers he had
to break down in Hollywood and in the world, and
he just just seems so so pure, you know, and
so real. And I think, like, you know, sparking, you know,
a nice you know, some o g cush with him. Man, bro,
I couldn't imagine what kind of shit he might be spending.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
After that, you know for sure.

Speaker 7 (49:09):
You know what.

Speaker 5 (49:09):
It's funny, Ben, You're such a great storyteller. You're such
a pleasure to have on the podcast with us. And
to hear you say, Bruce Lee, we literally all lost
it out here. I mean, Craig's a black belt or
whatever belt, grew up with his kids, like, he's got
nice nice wow and know only that it makes you think, going.
I love when I hear names, because when I hear

(49:29):
an obscure name that I don't know, I'm like, I
don't know who that is, but I'm sure that person
likes him.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
You said Bruce Lee, it makes you go that would
be a good one. Man.

Speaker 4 (49:38):
Yeah, see anything.

Speaker 5 (49:41):
Else you want to shout out there? I mentioned you're
a good talker. You got a podcast? Are you still
doing it?

Speaker 4 (49:46):
I have a podcast I do every every two times
a week. We drop every Monday and every Thursday. It's
called Behind the Baller. We are a top forty chart,
you know, topping a podcast, and you know we crush it.
I have my one hundredth episode dropping on Monday, but
I have an episode dropping them all actually.

Speaker 3 (50:01):
Man, Yeah, we'd love to be a part of your show.

Speaker 6 (50:06):
Man.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
If if that, if you could work out some space
for these few Mexicans and Jews over here, we kind
of join you.

Speaker 4 (50:12):
Hey, man, you know half my family is Jewish. You
see the star of David on me, remember of the tribe?
I mean the star Davis Tatada me.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
Man, Yeah, beautiful man.

Speaker 4 (50:22):
I definitely do a man just so you guys know. Man,
you know, my first language was not English, It wasn't Korean.
It was Spanish, you know, so yeah, and you know
my my uh, and then my second language is Korean
and then in an English third and then uh, you
know pretty much it's sad. You know, I only kind
of kept the slang and the bad words of Spanish
and Korean. But you know, but it was just, you know,

(50:43):
I grew up around blacks and Jews all my life,
and I would love to have you guys on the show.
I've had some amazing guests on my show. Uh. You know,
I worked with George George Lopez really heavily. You know,
if you saw his new Netflix.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
Special Awesome, Awesome.

Speaker 4 (50:57):
I'm in the beginning of the show.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
You're going to introduce it, correct, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:03):
Yeah, I introduced him on that He's brought me. I
think I choose some With three different specials now to
HBO and this Netflix one, he just always flies me out.
I don't don't don't ask me why. I don't know.
But he's always cool. He has a great weed party
every year at his house, and and I'm just you know,
I'm down with anything, bro. You know, I've had a
lot of amazing guests on my show, and uh, I
can't wait to have you guys on to inform people

(51:24):
because I had not mister ticket what's his name, the
checks checkpoint, checkpoint, amazing.

Speaker 8 (51:30):
Y senate, good friends of ours time.

Speaker 4 (51:32):
He's a very nice guy. He's a little too nice,
I think Mark is a little more like like me, like, listen,
fuck you, dumb buck. I don't mean you're dumb buck,
but I can tell you a dumb buck because you
don't fucking listen. Shut the fuck up. I need you
to tell my listeners and my fans, my followers like, bro,
shut the fuck up when you get pulled over right,
just you know, I think I think my fan base
could definitely use the Pop Brothers for sure.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
You got it, you got it, got it.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
Well, we want to thank you for joining the show man, Bamballer.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
It's always a pleasure. Man. We love you.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
Make sure you check out his podcast and follow him online.
It's Cannabis Talk one on one.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
Remember this. If no one else loves you, we do.

Speaker 4 (52:10):
Peace.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Peace, Thanks for listening to another podcast of Cannabis Talk
one oh one, the world's number one source for everything cannabis,
featuring Ben Baller from Icy Fresh Jewels.