Berner And Desto Dubb On New Cookies Collaboration, Erykah Badu Partnership, And The Power Of California Weed
When rapper Berner, co-founder of the globally-recognized Cookies brand, does a Meet and Greet in Los Angeles, best believe people will show up. On a beautiful Saturday in Los Angeles, the San Francisco native made an appearance at the Cookies Melrose dispensary located in West Hollywood, California, to celebrate the launch of the new collaboration between Cookies and That’s A Awful Lot Of Cough Syrup.
While most people would associate Cookies with cannabis, they also have their own clothing line and a retail store located right next to the dispensary on Melrose Ave. And joining forces with That’s A Awful Lot Of Cough Syrup — a super popular streetwear clothing brand created by business mogul Desto Dubb, who also opened his retail store on Melrose Ave. — seemed like a no-brainer. If you’re a Los Angeles native, you know how big this is!
Berner And Desto Dubb: That's A Awful Lot Of Cookies Collaboration
Three years in the making, the synergy between Berner and Desto Dubb was so strong that they released a limited edition collection called That’s A Awful Lot Of Cookies. With Berner being from the Bay Area and Desto Dubb from Los Angeles, it made perfect sense to create designs and pieces that paid homage to the West Coast.
Honeysuckle had the pleasure of covering the exclusive, in-store launch of the new collection, as fans lined up for blocks outside the store just to meet Berner and Desto Dubb. Read below as we discuss the new collab, Berner linking with Erykah Badu, and more!
HONEYSUCKLE MAGAZINE: Tell us about this epic collaboration today. How did you guys meet and what does it mean to you?
BERNER: We met a long time ago, we've been in contact. I fuck with his energy, he had good energy. Brings a lot of good powerful spirit and soul to the table. We’ve been waiting to do it. We talked about doing a while ago, but waited till the time was right. We took our time to do it. We did cut and sew, we wanted to do printables. We took our time and the time was now. We popped this shit off. Shoot, you see the vibes. Everyone's outside!
DESTO DUBB: It means really going after something. You ever seen — they’ll put me as a racer, then you got a professional racer. Then you get to the point where you get to race with the big dawgs now. All of that hard work is paying off. You can get a lot of no’s, but that one yes can change everything. This is that one yes to put me on another level.
How does the clothing your collab is offering pay tribute to West Coast culture?
DESTO DUBB: The clothes are really streetwear at the end of the day. We wanted to give something that people can wear as far as a brand and industry, it’s the mix of two. You can wear this going to a party, going to the club, or on your way to go pick up something that you like. It’s real streetwear. It's comfortable, we did our own cut and sew with the khakis. That's West Coast culture right there, but put a better twist to that L.A.
BERNER: It’s a Bay to L.A. thing, which is huge. Keep the Bay to L.A. spirit alive. California really.
DESTO DUBB: Keeping it true to who we are. We didn’t go with the little shorts, the crop top shirts. We put a twist on stuff that we’re already wearing, and our fans already wear. This is really for them.
Berner, the last time I saw you, Erykah Badu launched her “That Badu” strain in collaboration with Cookies at Cookies Maywood. How legendary was that day?
BERNER: It’s still legendary, that’s the queen there. This is equally as legendary because at the end of the day, not a lot of people have that reach where you can go from someone like Erykah Badu to someone like Desto Dubb. We're in touch with what’s real, what’s actually really moving. It's cool to be able to stay in tune, I've watched this guy bubble up and hustle for a long time. It’s cool to be able to go from l that to this. It’s two totally different worlds, they're both equally as powerful.
DESTO DUBB: Side note, I want to let everybody know I was a fan. Just like these people standing in line, waiting in line to grab something from Berner, I was a fan. For me to do something with him, I’m letting y'all know don't ever stop trying. You can do it too. There’s people lined up right now. You never know, y'all might do the next collab with Cookies or the next collab with Berner. Or the next collab with me, just always believe that.
How did you and Erykah Badu come together to partner on “That Badu,” and what's the process behind such a monumental collab?
BERNER: With Erykah, we caught a vibe for about a year or so. She was ready to do it. She came back to us and we wanted to do something powerful. We were supposed to launch on Mother's Day, [but] we decided not to. We decided to launch early [for International Women’s Day instead], but we have something special coming in on Mother's Day. The business is private, but it's a powerful partnership. It’s probably going to be one of our global partnerships.
How do you decide who to partner with when it comes to the Cookies brand? I’d imagine you have a ton of people hitting your line.
BERNER: We just gotta pick and choose, time is everything.
After battling cancer in 2021 and going into remission last year, you had another cancer scare recently - which was thankfully determined to be benign. How does cannabis help you through moments like that?
BERNER: Shit, It eases the mind. That's all it does. Keeps the mind at ease, that and microdosing. Fuck with the mushrooms if you can.
What can you tell us about your album releasing in May?
BERNER: 5/5, it’s called Arrogance Is Ignorance. It's some real poetry, that’s all. I got the vintage Jacka verse on there, RIP to The Jack.
For more about the exclusive That's A Awful Lot Of Cookies collab and to get merch, click here.
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Shirley Ju is a journalist, media host, and seasoned music industry professional. She is the founder of Shirley's Temple, a podcast series with a focus on mental health, where her guests include Trippie Redd, Chanel West Coast, Ricky Williams, Blac Chyna, and more. Shirley's work has been featured in publications such as Variety, Complex, Nylon, Flaunt, and REVOLT; she can also be seen doing exclusive interviews for leading urban news source VLADTV, featuring a platform with 5 million subscribers. Find out more about Shirley at @shirju on Instagram and Twitter, and on LinkedIn.
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Featured image: Desto Dubb and Berner at Cookies Melrose for the launch of their That's A Awful Lot Of Cookies collab (C) Cookies, courtesy of Pristine Initiative