Jadakiss: 3 Things I Can't Smoke Without

Jason Phillips — better known as Jadakiss — is one third of The LOX and one of New York's most respected lyricists. Two decades into his career he's still in the booth, still touring, and still very particular about what he smokes. When he stopped by Good Grades in Queens, he came with a clear, no-spray, no-bullshit answer to the only question that mattered: what are the three things you can't smoke without?

Jadakiss doesn't waste a lot of words. He walks into Good Grades, the Queens dispensary near the Coliseum, gives the camera his usual half-smirk, and gets right to it. "What's up, y'all? You know who it is, your boy Kiss. We live at Good Grades, and these are the three things that I can't smoke without."

Two decades into a career that turned The LOX into New York rap canon, Kiss has earned the right to be picky. He came to Good Grades with the same energy he brings to a verse: efficient, opinionated, and uninterested in dressing things up.

Three things. No filler.

"We live at Good Grades, and these are the three things that I can't smoke without."

The first answer is the obvious one, and Kiss knows it. "The first thing that I can't smoke without is some good fucking bud," he says, "because you wouldn't even be here. It defeats the whole purpose."

Then he gets specific. "I like candy. I like hybrids. I like my weed like my music kind of — the original. I don't, I ain't with the no spray, no bullshit, basically."

That's the bar in one sentence: untreated, hybrid-leaning, candy-terpy flower that tastes the way it's supposed to. No sprays, no shortcuts. For a guy whose whole catalog is built on cleanly written, no-gimmick verses, it tracks that he wants the same thing out of a jar.

"I like my weed like my music kind of — the original."

The second thing is the wrap, and Kiss is just as direct. "The second thing I can't smoke without, something to fucking roll the great bud in."

He'll humor a paper if it's already going. "I'm not a paper grabber dude yet, even though I do it. My friends, I have friends that do it, and I might take a couple pulls. But me, preferably, I need a leaf. Backwood. Or you got some other good clean leafs out there that I need."

It's a familiar position in New York smoke culture — the leaf guys and the paper guys quietly disagree, but the leaf guys never switch. For Kiss, the wrap is half the experience. A clean Backwood, slow-burning and full of flavor, is what turns the flower into a session.

"Me, preferably, I need a leaf."

The third pick is where Kiss gets funny without trying. "The third thing I can't smoke without is a fucking lighter. It's how I'm gonna light the good bud in the roll-up, previously, the other two things I just told you about."

Then the punchline that every real smoker has lived: you don't need one lighter. You need a few. "I have a friend that's banned from using anybody's lighter," he laughs. "Shout out to my man Beloved. He got a grand two Scama. Hopefully we can get Scama inside Good Grades and do some business."

He goes into the actual logistics, deadpan. "You need several lighters. You gotta have a couple in the car door, a couple in the console, one in each pocket, a throwaway in the back pocket. Throughout the whole day of the whole journey of smoking, you're gonna get robbed for a minimum of three to five lighters."

It's the kind of detail that only a lifelong smoker thinks to mention — and the kind of math anyone who's ever rolled with a crew has quietly done themselves.

"You're gonna get robbed for a minimum of three to five lighters a day."

Kiss is Yonkers to the bone, but the co-sign for a Queens dispensary lands cleanly. The three things aren't borough-specific — they're just smoker fundamentals, delivered by someone who's been doing this since long before there was a legal menu to read.

"Some good bud, a nice clean leaf, and a few lighters makes my smoking complete with Good Grades," he says, before signing off the way he signs off everything. "You heard?"

Jadakiss's three things aren't a wishlist. They're a discipline. Hybrid flower with nothing sprayed on it. A leaf instead of a paper. And enough lighters to survive a full day of being borrowed from.

For anyone shopping a legal dispensary for the first time, it's a quietly perfect starter kit: pick the flower you actually want to taste, pick a wrap that respects it, and accept that the lighters are going to walk off no matter what you do.

Watch the full interview below, and explore more artists in our Cannabis Culture hub.

"Some good bud, a nice clean leaf, and a few lighters makes my smoking complete."