If you know anything about the local music or cannabis scene in the 757, you must have heard the name BobbyBlaze before. If not, we’re here to educate you. Fresh off showing out at our Good Friends music arts fest, we hopped over to Hampton and kicked it with the man himself. Sit back, twirl one and grab your ashtray. Cuz this ones going up in smoke.

I appreciate you coming out. you def did your thing at our wifi music festival! Just came to chop it up for a minute. Lets take it from the top. You mentioned aberdeen…where does the story start?

Was born and raised in Aberdeen Gardens in Hampton, VA. I’ve been doing music since my 21st birthday; I’ll be 29 this year in May. Everybody thinks i’m older than that! Story of my life. But born and raised out here all my life. Had a real deal childhood; came outside, linked up on some real Phineas and Ferb shit. Today we gone wrestle, today we gone build a fort, today we gone play football. Nah mean?

Was music always there or did it come later or? What were you doing as a teenager wes it sports were you just outside or?

Before music, I aint gone lie I did a lil bit of everything I was a cub scout, I learned how to ballroom dance, was a superintendent at my Sunday School, I was in drama club. Was a captain of ROTC, got a scholarship for that. Very diverse kind of past. I actually played tee-ball and baseball for 4 years. Was real big on baseball; played one year of football for Aberdeen intermediates and I hated it. Not a fan. Like everybody just knew, they bought me real NFL league gear cuz I was such a big kid they swore I was going to the league. Like one game they actually made me sit out because they were debating was it fair for me to play regulation in little league gear. Like I aint gone like I was on video games….I was a nerd I mean I STILL am to this day. Matter fact its crazy before you got here I was just about to hop in the crib and play hogwarts cuz I defintely pre-ordered the new hogwarts game and I’m bout to get on that all day.

Nothing wrong with that! When did this take a transition to music? You took us up until high school; you went to Bethel.

I graduated 2012 and I aint really record my first song 2014/15 something like that. Literally like two houses down from where we at. Shout out my boy Reddi Roc James and DeztheGenius. I’ll never forget it we were at my boy Trig crib, I had never been to a studio before, didn’t know how to make music but I knew they were always crazy at what they did. Dez he done recorded everybody in the city, and my boy Reddi done got placements with everybody from Peewee Longway to Hoodrich; a little bit of everybody. One day they recorded a song called “Big Ball Cappin” and I just felt like I needed to say something on here. So they jsut gave me the headphones, turned the mic on. And I think I just said some random like “fuck 12” or some melodic type shit, but after when they played it everyone was like “damn this you?” It just fit perfect.

So this wasnt planned at all?

Nah man I remember my boy Reddi Roc and Beach Boy made my first beat, my boy Don Kevo made the cover art, and Dez recorded it. I’ll never forget it I recorded it 2 days before my 21st birthday. My boy Steven Iverson I think it was his Aunts birthday too so I just went over there. We were getting lit, like halfway through the party. Easily 200 people in the crib. So i’m like “I just recorded my first song and I wanna share it with ya’ll” and this was probably the liquor talking “but I just recorded my first song and if yall fucking with it cool but if not yall gone have to listen to it anyways”. So the song playing, I see some head bobs, see shorty twerking and shit…so somethings going right. So this is the point I almost cried; I think I cried later that night haha! Its different when you play a song for somebody, and you know for a fact they’ve never heard this before a day in their life….and they are rapping it acting like they know the song word for word….it was that defining moment that let me know like damn I have an influence; this can be more than just me making music. I was a live reaction, the energy and love. So I can take what I go through in real life, translate that through music and get an emotional reaction….thats hard.

For sure. I think it takes that situation or motivation to put a battery in your back. To jump that creativity and get you to put it out there. After that, you got the motivation juice and energy, but how did it proceed from there?

I never was in it for the bread. So it really just kind of fell into place seamlessly. Dez was one of the best engineers literally inthe 757…not just saying this because he records my music. I came up with the best names in the 757. And these are my legit ass friends. It was deeper than music deeper than rap. These are people i’m growing up with, going through real deal situations with. Legal issues, life issues, family issues, all that for sure.

How would you describe your genre of music?

I’m not even gone use my own words for this i’m just gonna give you what other people have told me from article writeups to others….the word that was used is genre-bending. Like I can rap but i’m not a rapper, I can do melodies and harmonize but i’m not no pop artist. I can do something for the ladies but i’m not not r&b nigga either. Its like I might give you the energy of someone who talks about a bunch of shoot em up bang bang…but not with the negativity. I rap about getting money, getting high, having a good time and enjoying life. You nah mean? When you are just yourself and not trying to appease people and conform to what other people think…I promise you life gone go so much easier. Its gone come natural because people just gone rock with you how they rock with you. When I embody my music…man I was always different. I was always the youngest of my age group, 6 foot 5 with a size 15 shoe. So before I dyed my beard I wasnt really that hard to miss. And then my energy was always what it was. I was always in the mix, sometimes not even by choice; just by where I live at, who I was related to , who I was around….all that played a factor.

What about how did the name BobbyBlaze come about?

When I first graduated I worked for Hardees they took 4 years of my life from me. At the time I didnt smoke weed at all. Like when I was 15 I had a traumatic experience where I had ate 5 edibles (didnt know they were edibles). I mean stereotypical “I swear to God if you get me out I’ll never smoke weed”. so 3’4 years cold turkey. When I first started smoking, Tyler the Creator and Odd Future came to Norva. Maybe 2011. One of my first concerts. So I’m happy as a bitch ready to turn up, all my friends smoke. The blunts going back and forth, i’m not even paying it no mind. We waiting for the show to start and I dont know what it was, but the blunt came back one time, i’m just looking at it. So i’m looking and just said fuck it! Aint gone lie all my homies looked at my like they saw the pope slap they momma while doing a line of coke. Thats how wild it looked. This way before the rap, so I had the name before I started rapping. So I just said when I smoke from now on I was gonna make sure it was the best possible. I mean I started getting BLITZED. Whats the word STONED. To the point, mind you im working at Hardees and im getting high as possible, throwing out a joint walking in the door. I dont give a damn about smelling like weed nothing cuz I do my job so well, that thats the only thing they could ever say about me. Customer service on point, i’m brining drive through times down, i’m revolutioniziing the store! Hardees yall wouldent be shit without me! But i’ll never forget it my boy from downtown named Bird, everytime I come into work he’d be like “uh-oh" you can smell em before you see em…thats goddamn BOBBY BLAZE ON THE BLVD!”. The way he said it was so fucking hillarious to me. Like the name got blessed on me. To the point people be yelling at me “Bobbbayyy!!”. I changed it to my instagram name and it got the point where niggas started calling me Robert cuz they think thats my real name! I’m like my real name AINT BOBBY my real name James!

(LOL) Dying laughing at that! So the weed game is just part of the lifestyle and weaved into the music?

Look i’ma break this down. There is “ZA”, or exotic, rapper weed. “Za-Za”, exotic, low-batch indoor, nah mean? There’s that. That’s “ZA”. Then…here’s where it gets fucked up at right here. This is the level we like to call, (in the Za-Lord Association), “Ze”. So you got Za and you come down to Ze. See Ze thats gone be you know your typical happy go lucky weeds that its like “oh this some gas”. For somebody that dont smoke real Za, Ze could be Za to them. Thats Ze. You know when the people gotta say they left it out too long or its been out for a little while….when people gotta give you disclaimers about the weed…..its not Za its Ze. On God if you have to give any type of disclaimer before you pass the blunt or before you indulge in it; it is NOT ZA it is ZE. Alright? Because the real one? I aint gonna have to say shit to you about it….I can let you indulge in this in full confidence. See we at Ze though, but this is where it gets fucked up. There’s Ze, then theirs Ze-plus. Ze-plus is STRADDLING THAT LINE! Almost to the point where ya boy sometimes have to be goddamn double checking. Might look good but then you get up on em and then….awwwwww. Like to the point where you almost had to smoke it to find out. Looks crazy through the videos, good smell, but when you go touch it it be hard as a brick or something. Might be PGR’d up or something (which means plant growth regulators). Steroids for weed. Easiest way to know whether your weed has been flushed properly, whether its clean or you got some real Za or not…..as you smoking a blunt…look at the ashes. It will tell you everything you need to know about your weed.

Last one. Any thoughts on the state of the weed game?

As of right now, globally and locally the weed game is fucked up. There are levels to this weed shit. But weed is the same way it is with everything else. People always going to want what they want. The black market will always exist. I can get top shelf or I can go to my mans I know.