For The Gulture!

BY: DAVID HERNANDEZ

"It's not just about getting fried and being deady all day, I am in the zone now, I am a functional pothead"

What’s good Happy Munkey Fam! This month to give y’all a taste of the lesser known, yet vibrant and thriving New York City cannabis community, I linked up with my 1st Ave Homies to learn a little more about the “Gulture”. On a frigid New York morning I met up with Hunter B (rapper, cocreator and vibe-setter of the Gulture movement) in front of the 1199 Housing development. From there we headed into the building through a maze of indoor and outdoor hallways until we made it to a gorgeous outdoor terrace that overlooked the East River and Randalls Island. In shock I made sure to stop and take in the view and had Happy Munkey’s Rafael snap a few photos, before Hunter ushered us into the final destination, “The Cases”. As most native New Yorkers know, it is a rite of passage to smoke in staircases, and for “the Gulture” staircases is where all the main cyph sessions go down. Once chilling inside the staircase we started to roll up a few joints and sparked them. With the libations in the air Hunter explained The Gulture is an artist collective of like minded creatives all pushing to the same goal. It came about while Hunter was in high school as a collaborative effort between the East Harlem movements LoudPack and GroovePack. Whether be it a musician, visual artist, or model the collective supports and delivers feedback, good energy, and mutual support. For Hunter specifically, the Gulture has been an instrumental source of positive energy in his own music career. As our joints finished, we ashed our smoke and made it back outside.

Before heading out my last stop with Hunter was to check in with Greg A.K.A. Gregular, co-founder of the Gulture to hear more about how cannabis impacts and inspires the Gulture movement. Instantly when asked about cannabis, the energetic and Groovy Greg replied, “I smoke before I do anything. Hell I smoked before doing this interview”. For Greg and the Gulture cannabis is a tool to open creativity not close doors. Hunter B put it best when he said, “It’s not just about getting fried and being deady all day, I am in the zone now, I am a functional pothead”. A statement I know out Happy Munkey Family can definitely get behind!

Now that you all got a little insight into what East Harlem is cooking up, be on the lookout for big things to be coming your way! Until next time keep doing it for the Gulture and always choose Happy!

Photo by Rafael Hernandez