Cali High

This week we have a very enlightening conversation with Steven Scott Smalley, aka Scotty, who I have known since kindergarten, and who has remained a friend of mine for 60 years. Scotty has orchestrated over 100 movie scores including Batman and Robocop and started professionally at age 21 arranging for the hit TV show, Charlie’s Angels.

He developed an orchestration technique which he taught for ten years at UCLA’s extension and started the Film Music Institute, teaching a worldwide network of enthusiasts for 21 years. We speak of our early days selling the high quality cannabis in the 818 and the effect the herb had on the Hollywood music scene. Scotty also describes how cannabis enlightens the mind and inspires creativity as well as boosting productivity! This is an episode not to miss!

This week we check in with The Adoni and Prolific, aka Rahsaan Adoni Ison and Reginald Smith of the Fourth Eye Tribe on the release of their dynamic new album, Don’t Try This at Home. We discuss how it is not your typical hip-hop album, starting from the changes and continuing with the album’s layering of sound as well as the self-analytical themes of the tunes. Towards the end of the interview we also have the first Cali High Yard performance of No Doubt, from the album, and we feature a great video of Mntns, also from Don’t Try This at Home! Watch the full video out on YouTube! Just type: Cali High Episode 48.

This week our guest is Jody Hustle, a dynamic hip hop artist from Chicago who recently moved to LA. His forward-thinking outlook on life has influenced his music, which embraces realism and favors truth over fiction. He talks about the progression his music has gone through over the last few years and we get a clear sense of his goals and methods of achieving them, which include ownership of his music and forming his own production company, as well as embracing healthy lifestyle choices. This is a very candid interview and the ninth in the Cali High’s backyard artist series.  Out now on YouTube! Follow the link in the bio☝️ @calihighla

This week we catch up with CEO Armen Paronyan and Master Grower Chris Koljan of LA Cannabis Co, for an update on the state of the cannabis business, locally and statewide.  We include tips on drying and curing. We talk about the Hemp Regulation bill AB45, which most cannabis associations here in California were against and what the remedies were. We discuss the social justice aspect of cannabis licensing here in LA as well as the streamlining of the departments that oversee cannabis here in Los Angeles and California. Also on the menu of topics are the new strains available at LA Cannabis Co. This episode is packed full of up-to-date beneficial information for cannabis entrepreneurs as well as helpful hints for all you cultivators out there! Follow the links in the bio ☝️

Please don’t forget to like, comment, follow and subscribe to the Cali High YouTube page!

This week our guest is Michaelangelo Ruiz, aka Big Mike.

Big Mike joins us for a catchup interview following his new 2021 release, Rebos. We catch up with Mike after he’s been out on the road. This is a great interview and we feature Big Mike’s new song Good Days as well as a BIG REVEAL at the end. 

This week we revisit Peter’s grow for a pre-harvest inspection of his amazing colas. Peter has been growing for 15 years and is now a master grower. He creates something between a Japanese garden and Edward Scissorhands’ topiaries, with a vast canopy of buds and an immaculately clean undergrowth. 

During my visit, we see how he creates optimal growth, carefully filling every nook and cranny with super vibrant and healthy plants. We talk about growing techniques, garden setup, his strains this year from The Humboldt Seed Company and The Humboldt Seed Organization. 

Upon arrival at his farm, we find him keeping a close watch on buds that might rot during the periods of the fall coastal moisture which plague cannabis growers of the coastal plains of California. This is our first visit with Peter G during the harvest period and you won’t want to miss this if you ever plan to grow outdoors. It is an educational experience, chock full of tips learned through hard work and toil over the years. Enjoy! (First fifteen people to comment on YouTube will be entered to win a secret prize in the Cali High harvest giveaway!)

This week our guest is Kahmoné Harris a multi-talented singer, writer, actor, athlete and performer from the West Side of Los Angeles. Kahmoné has a number of outstanding music videos on YouTube from her first EP, Double Cup and her latest City of the Palm Trees is a very cool and catchy interpretation of the beach culture of Venice and Santa Monica. Kahmoné is currently working on a number of projects including acting in a new series, West Los Scandalous, and plans to release her first full album soon on Mars Republic Records. Two of Kahmoné’s, videos City of the Palm Trees and Take it Off are featured in this episode! Watch  on YouTube as well to see the videos!!

This week our guest is Chiah Rodriques, of River Txai Farms, Arcanna Flowers and Mendocino Generations. Chiah and her husband Jamie have been growing cannabis for 23 years together and we talk about what it is to farm sustainably off the grid on a ridgetop up in Mendocino. Chiah talks about getting their latest well drilled and the ins and outs of water rights as well as strains grown, pests to deal with and best farming practices. She is also starring in the upcoming documentary Lady Buds, about six women in the cannabis industry. The movie follows them from before prop 64 to the present with all the ups and downs licensing brought for them. A very enlightening interview!

This week Cali High presents Enyaw Big Wolf, a talented and motivated, young hip hop artist from New Orleans with a big drive for success. While growing up in New Orleans, Big Wolf learned to play acoustic guitar and tuba and gradually grew into hiphop after his NFL dreams didn’t come to fruition. He has recently moved to Los Angeles and has collaborated with The Adoni on a recent LP, 4 The City. We talk about his 2020 release, Next Level and aspects of his creative process and his use of imagery in his videos. 

This is our seventh episode in The Backyard Series featuring musical talent. 

This week Cali High sits down to have a most enlightening talk with Ellen Komp and Ian Rassman from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, otherwise known as NORML.  Ellen is with the California chapter of NORML and Ian is from the Los Angeles chapter. NORML is largely responsible for you being able to legally smoke cannabis as they have been around for 51 years trying to change cannabis laws around our cities, states and country. 

While largely an advocacy group for individuals’ cannabis rights, NORML works with other commercial cannabis proponents such as the United Cannabis Business Association here in Los Angeles to reform tax and access laws concerning cannabis. We learn out about evolving legislation and non-profit viability in a world of multi-state operators and put things in perspective for you in an ever-changing cannabis world! If you are involved with cannabis, this episode is essential!

In this episode, we talk with Nat about his successful 25-year-long effort to get the Spring Chinook declared endangered in the Klamath river and its tributaries, as well as his work with numerous state agencies, the Klamath tribes, including the Yuroc, Karuk, Hupa, Shasta, and Klamath nations and Pacificorp, which is owned by Warren Buffet, to get four dams removed along the Klamath river. 

 When finished in 2024 it will be the world’s largest river restoration project. The dams removal will restore the river and bring back healthy salmon runs, which in turn restores one of the tribes’ most important resources and will benefit the fishing industry as well.  

The deed to the dams has been transferred and is no longer in the hands of Pacificorp. This is an extraordinary story of hope in a world gone astray. 

This week our guest is Jordan Webb, a talented, young hip hop artist from Nashville, Tennessee. Jordan is a member of the Fourth Eye Tribe, an arts collective here in Los Angeles, has several amazing releases and recently helped write the new Cali High theme which he sings lead and background vocals on. He calls his style is retro-futuristic and is one of the most real writers we know of. Stay tuned for a very cool and candid interview featuring his video, Back and Forth! 

Here we have a clip from his video 13 LTTRS IN from his 2018 release Memory Bank!

This week our guest is Rocky Dawuni, a singer/songwriter from Ghana. Dawuni’s 2015 album Branches of the Same Tree received a Grammy nomination for reggae album of the year. He is the first Ghanaian to be nominated for a Grammy and only the second person from the continent of Africa to be nominated in the reggae category. While his roots are in the African style of High Life and Afro-Beat, Dawuni’s music pulls from many styles and his videos are epic cinematic events, and we feature two in this episode.  We talk to Rocky about growing up in Ghana, music, early influences, the first time he heard a Bob Marley song, his videos, muses for certain songs and we ask him about the state of cannabis legalization in Ghana and Africa. Tune in for an amazing, ground-breaking episode from the Cali High Backyard Series.

This week we are blessed to have one of the top women in cannabis podcasting, Ellen Scanlon of the How to Do the Pot podcast an innovative and informative show, that highlights how women interact with cannabis.

From sexual to medical and beyond, her podcasts does exactly what it says, it tells women how to do the pot. We cover it all in this episode including the twelve strains every woman should have. 

This week our guest is The Adoni aka Rahsaan Adoni Ison, a young talent from New Orleans who is a singer, writer, rapper and producer with the Fourth Eye Tribe. 

We talk to Rahsaan about his wrongful expulsion and his being reinstated, with the help of the NAACP, from and to The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, known as NOCCA.

We discover his new music and talk about his muses. He speaks of his plans for the future and his current collaborations. Rahsaan’s story of leaving New Orleans is absolutely riveting.

To watch the YouTube video go to YouTube and type "Cali High Episode 35"!

This week Cali High features a fresh, young, talented, local hip hop artist, T$upreme also known as Tahj Hall.  T$upreme is the youngest local hip-hop talent we’ve ever had on the show, and at 18 he demonstrates determination and talent that you will find inspiring. Tahj talks about his influences, inspirations and philosophy of keeping positive people around him! He also speaks to the trouble of Covid hitting during his last year of high school and of his future goals and immediate pursuits.  T$upreme speaks about his creative process and we feature his music in this episode!

Cali High speaks with Billy “Mystic” Wilmot, lead vocalist and songwriter of the band The Mystic Revealers, on 4/20, straight from his surf camp, restaurant and club: Jamnesia, eight miles east of Kingston, Jamaica. We talk about surfing in Jamaica, gnarly waves rolling into hurricane alley in the summer, The Mystic Revealers, and herb in Jamaica. We learn of Mystic’s influence on the youth of Jamaica and the younger reggae artists who came to Jamnesia surf camp! An amazing episode you don’t want to miss!

Richard Daley, reggae great, bass player, and founding member of Third World, the world’s reggae ambassadors, joins Cali High for an amazing talk about his career, and his early days in Kingston. He talks about working with various producers, Lee Scratch Perry, Chris Blackwell, and Damian Marley as well as amazing gigs and staggering crowds! We also discover tunes that he played on we never knew about and more! A real cool chat! 

Just dropped on Youtube  with subtitles (type: Cali High Episode 32), and audio on all podcast platforms!

This week Cali High features local hip hop artist and talented young writer, BIG ARSON aka Justin Klaus. Justin started writing at 15 and is now 22 with three self-produced albums up on iTunes. Two of which were released during this last year, titled The Stimulus Tape 1 & 3 (Stimulus Tape 2 is actually an EP). In this candid interview, Justin talks about his influences, song writing techniques and subject matter, as well as developing themes, his mentors and his family. Featured in the interview is his latest video Over The Top, and more of his music is featured in the credits at the end of the interview. Check him out!

 Cali High is proud to have as our guest local hip hop artist BIG mike! BIG mike, aka Michael Angelo Ruiz, is SFV raised and we are proud to present this dynamic and talented young writer. We talk with him about early writings, inspirations, goals and future projects. He also talks about his community and one day being able to give back and inspire its youth. You will find Mike engaging and his music is genuine.