Cannabis and Music with Chicago’s Underground King, Andreaus Haley

Photo provided by: Andreaus Haley

It has been hot in Chicago, and if you’re like me with a thrill to “stick it out,” you probably did Chicago’s summer with no air conditioner. So when it came time to interview Chicago’s Underground King, Andreaus Haley, I gave him a fair warning to my way of living to which he responded with, “It’s all good.”

On a steamy Monday afternoon, we agreed to meet at my apartment for a smoke session. Most interviews I do are performed over Zoom or a phone call. If you have ever given an interview or just talked on the phone with someone new, it can be a little awkward. Fumbling between questions, a tense silence between the interviewer and interviewee, and an overall sense of unfamiliarity (we all can’t be Oprah). Fortunately, I’m pretty close to this Chicago MC – spatially and intimately. With about four city blocks sitting between us, and a bag of weed, it was nothing for us to come together as friends to talk about his relationship with his music and cannabis.

Arriving at my apartment at the tip of the heat, he set his backpack down and threw his white tee on a nearby chair. In one swift move, he lit his Newport and handed me a container of Raw Organic Hemp Cones – king-sized. I brought out my rolling tools (a squeaky grinder, a rolling tray, and a lighter). “What we smoking today?” I asked, looking for my lighter that never stays where I left it. Andreaus looks inside of his paint-splattered camouflage cargo shorts and hands me a bag with some of the brightest colors of purple I have ever seen. Looking up with a smirk, he replies, “Purple Urkel.”

Andreaus Haley, formerly known as Dat Bizness, has been going through a rebirth, “I was starting to get tired of the moniker… I feel like I outgrew it.” Artists often create a name that is a personification of who they are – a way to separate them as individuals from their art. For Andreaus Haley, he’s tired of running from himself, so deciding to go by his government name was like, “coming full circle for who I am, all I’ve done, all I’ve been through.”

In this interview, I got to sit down with one of my favorite MC and friend to talk about:

Being Creative with Cannabis
Cannabis in the Writing Process
Is Weed a Gateway Drug
Childhood Trauma and Substance Abuse
Blunts vs. Joints – What’s the Difference?
Why Pink is a Dope Color
Difference between Performing Drunk and High
What it Means to be a Leo
The Perfect Smoking Circle

Listen to the full audio interview with Andreaus Haley, HERE.

Interview and Write Up: Victoria Sockwell

Also known as LiteraryBlkGirl. I’m a Rockford, Illinois-born; Chicago-based writer, archivist, and community organizer oriented towards restorative justice, healing, and liberation. I started using cannabis in college as a way to be social. Now I use cannabis as a way to heal my body from the inside out. Through my writing, I hope to continue to advocate for the health and wellness of Black communities. Favorite Strain: It’s a tie between Girl Scout Cookies, Black Girl Magic OG, and King Louis

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