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The first time I met Mike Dean, I opened the door to his home studio and was greeted by the smell of marijuana and the sounds of Travis Scott's "90210," which Dean was mixing for the then-upcoming BET Awards. I was there to introduce myself and pitch a story to him about weed. I shook his hand. "It's an honor to meet you," I said.
I meant it. Mike Dean may be themost consistent behind-the-scenes hero in hip-hop over the past two decadeseven Kanye has gone out of his way to say so.Born in 1965 in a bayou near Houston, the record producer, songwriter, mixer,and multi-instrumentalist started out as Selena's musical director in the 80s(he made her first record and "taught how her how to sing in tune") beforemoving on to help pioneer 90s Houston hip-hop sound, working alongsidevirtually every iconic rapper from the city: Scarface, Geto Boys, UGK, MikeJones, Z-Ro, Devin the Dude, and more.
In the 2000s, he became aninstrumental Kanye West collaborator, starting by mixing The College Dropoutand Late Registration. He made significant contributions to MyBeautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Watch The Throne, and Yeezus.Scroll through the credits of rap classics and you'll often see "Dean"scattered throughout. His fingerprints are everywhere. This year alone, he'shad credits on Yeezy's new music, as well as Travis Scott's Rodeo, A$APRocky's At Long Last A$AP, the Weeknd's Beauty Behind the Madness,Big Sean's Dark Sky Paradise, and several others.
Dean is a bona fide hip-hop legend even if you don't know his name, but he'salso got hip-hop insider gold status as a next-next-level weed smoker. Comingout of the Houston camp, in which "Swishas and dosha" were like pen and ink,this should come as no surprise. Urban legends exist about the time Dean out-smoked Snoop Dogg in a bluntcheefing competition and that he once owned a bird that was trained to retrieveblunts. Some even say that he's the biggest smoker in rap. But, like manystoner stories, the facts are a bit hazy. I wanted to know more about theprolific producer's weed lifestyle. So, after our first meet up where Ipitched him this story about his weed enthusiasm, he agreed to let me hang withhim a couple times over the course of a week to smoke powerful blunts and talkhip-hop mythology.
Mike's crib is a spacious loft onthe penthouse floor of an apartment building in Manhattan. A mat reading "TheDeanagans," in reference to his girlfriend, Louise Donegan, an English artistand model, sits outside the door. I visited him in the early afternoon. Aheavenly light streamed into his crib from the window. On a shelf lay a zoo ofexpensive-looking glass instruments for smoking weed. Packs of Swisher Sweetswere stacked on a table.
After re-introducing myself incase he'd forgotten my name, we sat down on a comfy sofa in his room. Ratherthan waste his time, I thought I'd get straight to the point with an easyquestion: How much weed does the man smoke in a given day? Answering in a gruffHouston accent he replied casually, "At least a quarter a day when I'mnot working"meaning 7 grams, or roughly $100-120 in NYC prices. "When I amworking, I smoke more, usually it's like ten bluntsa day. I just came off some trips and my tolerance got kicked down... by notsmoking good enough weed. Not smoking enoughweed." Dean had been in Israel performing with Kanye West.
Dean has a medical marijuanacard, but I wondered how he was able to access bud whenever he traveled. "Fansalways bring stuff to smoke," he told me. "There are fans everywhere, so it'seasy. What's harder is , Travis smokeslike crazy. I would say top five for sure." He zeroed in on B-Real and Snoop. "I'dsay us three are the OGs of the weed smoking game."
But Dean has years on hiscompetition. He's about 15 years older than both B-Real and Snoop. Considering his age, he may have smoked themost blunts out of anyone in hip-hop. When I told him my deduction, heshrugged his shoulders and grinned.
I brought up the story floatingaround the internet that Dean and Snoop had engaged in a smoke-off. Deanclarified for me. "I've hung out with Snoop a few times, and we'll sit thereand go at it. We'll roll up eight blunts each. I'll give him a few of mine, he'llgive me a few of his, and we'll just smoke and not pass and see who lastslonger. I'll get pretty stoned by the end," he said. "It's not likethere's a winner. I just hang on. Vibe out, work on music."
What of the stories about the"weed bird"? Mike laughed. "I had the bird years ago. It was just a bird, itwould fly around and grab your blunts, cigarettes. You'd have to chase himaround the house to get them back."
Want more weed stories? Read 'Stoners Explain Why They Prefer Crappy Weed'
After finishing the second blunt and chilling for a bit with Dean in his home studio, I left his apartment and went back out into the real world. I was incredibly stoned. Coming down from a high like that always sucks. Plus I had a ton of schoolwork to do. I ended up smoking threemore blunts that day just to stay on that level. But they failed to get me there. Dean,like Moses, had shown me a promise land, via a burning bush.
Thanks Distrolord for helping make this story happen.
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