Skeng: 3 Things I Can't Smoke Without

Kevon Douglas — known to the world as Skeng — is one of dancehall's most disruptive voices out of Kingston. With anthems that crossed from the Jamaican charts to Brooklyn block parties and Queens dancehalls within months, he's built one of the most viral catalogs in the genre's modern era. Cannabis is woven into the music and the ritual; on this visit to Good Grades, he kept the answers as no-nonsense as the songs.

Skeng walks into Good Grades the way he walks onto a stage — no warm-up, no small talk. "Three things the DJ cannot smoke without," he announces, half to the camera, half to the room, and that's the entire intro.

It's a small detail that says a lot. In Jamaica, dancehall artists are called DJs — toasting, chatting, leading the dance. So when Skeng frames the segment that way, he's not breaking the format. He's translating it. The 3 Things I Can't Smoke Without series, for the next forty seconds, is going to be told in his language.

"Three things the DJ cannot smoke without."

The first answer comes out before he even gets fully seated. "Number one, me need me grabba."

Grabba — whole-leaf tobacco — has been part of Caribbean spliff culture for generations. It's not optional for Skeng; it's preventative. "If me don't smoke with grabba, it harsh and me go choke," he explains. "Me go cough." In other words, the grabba is what tames the smoke. Without it the spliff hits sharp; with it the draw rounds out.

It's also a quiet generational marker. Younger U.S. smokers have spent the last few years rediscovering grabba through the dancehall and Afrobeats waves. For Skeng, it never went anywhere.

"If me don't smoke with grabba, it harsh and me go choke."

The second answer is just as quick — and just as definitive. "Number two, everybody need paper."

Then he draws a line. "Me not go roll inna no blunt and them thing there. Me can't roll inna blunt. So me need me papers." It's a clear cultural split. In New York, the dominant wrap conversation revolves around leaves and blunts — Dutch Masters, Backwoods, Fronto, grabba leaf used as a wrap. In Kingston, the spliff still rules, and the spliff means papers.

Skeng doesn't dress it up. He's not pitching a brand or a size. He's just telling you the wrap he uses, the same one he's probably been using since the first session.

"Everybody need paper. Me not go roll inna no blunt and them thing there."

The third pick is the one that lands hardest, partly because it comes from a guy who makes music for a living. "Number three, me need me music. Me have fi smoke wid music, because me can't focus. Me brain all over the place."

It's almost a confession. The session isn't a session without a soundtrack. For Skeng, music is the focus tool — the thing that keeps his head from wandering long enough to actually enjoy the smoke. It's the same instinct a lot of artists describe; the difference is he says it in nine words and moves on.

"Me have fi smoke wid music, because me can't focus."

There's a reason a Kingston DJ visiting a Queens dispensary feels natural. The Caribbean diaspora that built modern Queens is the same one that helped shape New York cannabis culture — the spliff, the grabba, the music-driven ritual. Skeng pulling up to Good Grades isn't a crossover moment so much as a homecoming for the culture itself.

On his way out, he keeps the co-sign as direct as the rest of the interview. "Good Grades — me have a set of grades there, me a bag of weed. Hit that." Translation: he picked up a bag, he likes it, you should pull up. Coming from somebody who could roll up anywhere on the island, it's the kind of NY shout you can't manufacture.

Skeng's three things — grabba, papers, music — aren't a starter kit so much as a complete philosophy of how a Kingston smoke session is supposed to work. Tame the smoke. Respect the wrap. Put the music on. The whole video runs less than a minute, and it tells you almost everything you'd need to roll up the same way.

If you're putting together your own rotation, his version is a clean blueprint. A leaf or grabba to smooth the draw. A paper you can roll consistently. And a playlist that keeps your head where you want it.

Watch the full interview below and explore more artist conversations in our Cannabis Culture hub.

"Good Grades — me have a set of grades there. Hit that."