Opening for Berner in Boston!

On Feb 8th I got to open for Berner on his “Still Smokin” tour in Boston, my hometown.

I used to live 3 blocks away from the venue during one of the most challenging times of my life, 22 years ago. 

My mom had just passed away from cancer, and I had a 6 bedroom party house in a college kid neighborhood. 

I was broke and hustling weed. I left my grow house in Vermont after a lot of isolation and came back to the city to pursue music, move my crop, and hustle beasters.

My girlfriend of 4 1/2 years and I had just broken up, and I was alone in the world at 21 with nothing, trying to slang the herb and play poker to pay my rent, performing at house parties, and competing in and winning rap battles, trying to figure out how to get a record deal.

My other option was MMA, but I broke my knee playing basketball and ruined my athletic career potential.

At the time, a lot of the people around me were starting to get heavy into coke and heroin and OCs, and the typical alcoholism in my social circle was starting to show.

I spent a lot of my time with my late great friend Dyshawne, dreaming of how to get out and make a real life for myself. The music I was writing at the time was grim and hard and depressing.

Berner’s show was the first time I was back in that neighborhood in over 20 years, brought back a lot of memories, and I ripped shit the f up and told a story on stage in my songs that my 21-year-old self living on Allston street struggling to come up with rent could never believe.

So this was special for me, and it means a lot that Berner let me do this.

I had to make sure we showed the West Coast how we smoke in Boston, so I had the whole place smoking 150 joints of Rebel Cookies, my first Cookies cross dating back to 2011. So the air was filled with real Cookies smoke for Berner’s performance. 

From one artist to another, Berner is dope, and I loved watching his set, dancing, smoking a joint, and drinking some tequila.

A dope experience, memorable night, and more perspective.